Red Shadow
by TuxedoMask2011
Summary: Part 1 of my saga. The Sailor Soldiers encounter a mysterious new ally; the alien-symbiote, Carnage. Except this isn't the Carnage that many people know him as; he is a hero and defender of Earth.
1. Prologue

Prologue – The Story Thus Far

Ten thousand years ago, before the start of recorded history, the Earth and the Moon housed great civilizations. The peaceful citizens of the more advanced Moon Kingdom, known at this time as Silver Millennium, were charged with overseeing the development and progression of the more primitive humans on the planet Earth. The Lunarians, as the people of Earth referred to them, were blessed with life spans that far extended those of humans. As a result, the inhabitants of Earth became jealous as they collectively longed for and deeply resented the immortality of those on the Moon. It was that united enmity that would start the chain of events that would ultimately lead to the destruction of both worlds.

A malevolent and amorphous force known as Queen Metalia appeared without warning on Earth. She corrupted a young sage named Beryl and used Beryl's position and power in the Earth Kingdom to convert and taint the planet's population by using the simmering human hatred towards the people of the Moon. Beryl crowned herself Queen of this new Dark Kingdom and quickly plunged the two spheres into a great and terrible war.

In the final battle Queen Serenity, the ruler of the Moon Kingdom, was forced to watch in horror as her kingdom's four guardians, the Sailor Soldiers – Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus– mercilessly fell before the advancing enemy's forces. The queen was then further crushed to see her only daughter, Princess Serenity, and Serenity's lover, Endymion, killed shortly after. Endymion was the Prince of the Earth Kingdom and the only person to resist Beryl and Metalia's evil influence.

Queen Serenity was faced with a near impossible choice. She could obliterate Queen Metalia and her forces for all time and consign the spirits of her protectors, subjects, and daughter to the emptiness of oblivion forever; or seal the enemy and allow the souls of those she loved dearly to be reborn on Earth in its future. The warmth in her heart made her chose the latter option and caused her to die in the process. As she watched the bodies of her fallen kingdom's citizens transmigrate towards the bright blue star that was to be their new home, her final thoughts were that she still firmly believed that the Sailor Soldiers and her daughter could once again lead happy lives. However, should the evil of Queen Metalia reawaken, they would have to take up the battle in her stead and do what she could not. As she died, she silently prayed that the magical seal placed upon the Dark Kingdom would last forever.

After nearly ten millennia, the Dark Kingdom and Queen Metalia were indeed released, which meant that the time had come for the Sailor Soldiers to once again be called upon to fight against their ancient enemy in the long forgotten war. The first of the Sailor Soldiers to be revived was Minako Aino. She was a typical teenage girl who was more interested in going out on dates or sneaking into pop concerts than fighting for peace and justice. However, thanks to a magical pen given to her by a talking white cat named Artemis, who was one of the few survivors from that long ago era, she was able to unlock the power that was her birthright – the power of Sailor Venus. She became the super heroine known as Sailor V, also known as the Idol Soldier. She battled crime and against the forces of the mysterious Dark Agency, an organization that was dedicated to manipulating pop stars and teen celebrity idols in order to extract the life energy of Japanese teens for their own nefarious purposes.

When she was finally able to destroy the Dark Agency and its leader, Danburite, Sailor V learned that it was merely a front for the much more dangerous Dark Kingdom. Realizing that the stakes were significantly higher and the great war of the past was threatening to once again engulf the world, Minako finally and fully embraced her true destiny as Sailor Venus and firmly resolved to track down and locate the other Sailor Soldiers, restore their memories of their former lives and thus, meet the Dark Kingdom's threat head on together.

During her struggles against the Dark Agency, the legend of Sailor V quickly became well-known across the vast country of Japan. The numerous stories of her adventures made quite an impression on young teenage girls, but none more so than a klutzy girl named Usagi Tsukino. She idolized Sailor V and wanted nothing more in the world than to be just like her. However, and completely unexpectedly, this most unheroic looking young lady got her wish when she ran into a talking black cat named Luna. Like Minako Aino a year earlier, she too became a Sailor Soldier, Sailor Moon, through the help of a magical brooch.

Usagi muddled her way through her first few battles with the Dark Kingdom with the help of Luna and a dashing and mysterious figure known as Tuxedo Mask by night, and Mamoru Chiba by day. The burden of being a soldier of love and justice was not a job that Usagi wanted and as the Dark Kingdom's minions continued to wreak havoc across the city of Tokyo she feared that she would have to shoulder that responsibility alone. Fortunately, help arrived in the form of the shy genius, Ami Mizuno. Ami, unlike the playful and somewhat irresponsible Usagi, was a dedicated student who took studying very seriously. Like most typical Japanese students, she lived a life that was split between regular school and an after-hours cram school. When the Dark Kingdom decided to exploit the Japanese educational system in an attempt to harvest the life energy of the nation's over-stressed students, the operation nearly took Ami's life. The last minute intervention from Sailor Moon and the resulting battle caused Ami to be awakened as the Soldier of Wisdom, Sailor Mercury.

Shortly after, the Dark Kingdom began to kidnap whole buses full of people leaving the Hikawa Shrine in yet another plot to collect large amounts of energy for their leader, Queen Metalia. These disappearances caught the attention of Usagi and Ami, as well as the shrine's aloof and mysterious maiden, Rei Hino. The young shrine maiden used her psychic powers and skills of fire reading to learn the truth behind the odd abductions that were occurring around her temple. When she confronted the perpetrator, she was thrown into an inter-dimensional portal with the intention of never being heard from again. Instead Rei became inadvertently caught in the battle between one of the Dark Kingdom's monsters and Sailor Moon when they entered the inter-dimensional space as she investigated the disappearances on her own. Rei proceeded to assist Sailor Moon in defeating the monster and in the process she came face to face with her own destiny as the Soldier of Flame, Sailor Mars.

Working together as a team the three Sailor Soldiers continued to foil plot after plot of the Dark Kingdom and its general, Jadeite, to steal human energy so that it could be used to restore their ruler, Queen Metalia, to its full power. However, none of them were aware of that or what their enemy truly was as their memories were still fragmented and incomplete. Usagi and her friends had no idea about the hardships and triumphs that they would all have to endure as they began their long and incredibly hard fight to keep the planet Earth safe from the forces of evil.


	2. The Mysterious Presence

Chapter One: The Mysterious Presence

It began with a strange feeling — intuition — the body's unique way of alerting its owner that something may not be quite right. For the three members of the recently formed Sailor Soldiers team, these strange feelings were quickly becoming more frequent occurrences.

The first time Usagi Tsukino, Rei Hino and Ami Mizuno became aware of this gut feeling was when they were walking back home one spring night after spending the day at the Dreamland amusement park. For most people, especially a group of fourteen-year-old girls, this would normally sound like a great way to have fun on a Saturday. However, on this particular Saturday, their time at Dreamland was anything but fun. The three of them had gone to Dreamland to investigate the mysterious disappearances of almost fifty people, who had been last seen on the park's grounds. As the girls explored the park's various attractions and looked for any suspicious activity, they were drawn towards the large Candy House Castle in the centre of the amusement park. Ami began to enter the Castle first, as Rei and Usagi were once again delayed by Usagi's constant goofing. When Rei arrived and sensed an evil aura from within, the girls transformed and burst their way inside, only to discover that Jadeite, their enemy, had set up his latest energy draining operation inside the Candy House Castle.

Since their awakening as Sailor Soldiers, Usagi and the others had encountered Jadeite several times. Sometimes it was by accident and other times they found him while looking into the several strange occurrences that were regularly being reported in the media and by people they knew. His past plans always seemed to have the same main objective: to steal human life energy for some still yet unknown purpose. So far, they had managed to stop each plot.

After a particularly tough battle inside the Candy House's main hall, Sailors Moon and Mars were finally able to destroy Jadeite's monster, the Dream Princess, and rescue Ami and the people who were lying unconscious on the floor after having their life energy drained. While Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars had gone to search other areas of the park, Ami had investigated the Candy House and got caught in the Dream Princess' ambush.

The girls made sure that the captured people were given the proper medical attention by the park's emergency services officials. As usual, the people they rescued retained no memory of being captured or seeing the monster that had kidnapped them. Ami theorized that this was due to a mystical energy that each monster emitted which clouded a normal person's mental capacity. Once the monster had been destroyed, the mystical energy disappeared, but left gaps in the human's memory, similar to the after-effects of a seizure or blackout. Since there was no reason to stay and question the rescued, Usagi and her friends chose instead to spend the reminder of the day enjoying the park's many rides and attractions as a sort of post-battle celebration. When dusk finally settled in, and the park closed for the night, they left Dreamland and headed home to enjoy some much deserved rest or, in Ami's case, study.

As they walked along the quiet and dimly lit streets of the Minato Ward located in eastern part of Tokyo, Ami began having an eerie feeling that someone was watching or following them. She felt her skin crawl and the hair on her arms stood on end. The sensitive changes to her body made her worry that one of Jadeite's monsters may be following them.

She occasionally looked around her as they walked in the hopes of getting a glimpse of their unseen companion. Without making it apparent she scanned the surrounding area, looking for any signs of movement, or any other indication that something was indeed following them. After several minutes and numerous glances around her, with no such evidence presenting itself, she slowly began to relax and calm herself into believing that it was probably nothing more than leftover anxiety from almost being killed by the Dream Princess a few hours earlier.

Unbeknownst to Ami, Rei was having similar feelings of uneasiness. She was a Shinto temple maiden at the local Hikawa Shrine in the Roppongi distinct of the Minato Ward. She also was an above average psychic with talents in fire reading, and premonitions, and even possessed some offensive magical abilities. Through the many years of intense training from her grandfather, who also was the Shrine owner and head priest, she had managed to develop her personal attributes to where she could immediately sense spiritual auras and pinpoint or track the movements of specific ones from even a few miles away.

Just like Ami, shortly after they had left the amusement park, Rei had begun to sense a strange presence in their vicinity. The manifestation's energy did not immediately strike her as evil or even a minor threat so she had not seen a reason to alert Usagi and Ami about it. After they had been walking for a while and the presence had stayed with them she began to feel concerned. It had not faded nor gotten any stronger. She interpreted this to mean that whatever it was following them was keeping pace and staying a certain distance away from them so it could not be physically seen. It was more than a little unsettling to her that she couldn't tell where exactly the strange energy was currently located. She was usually accurate in that regard.

Usagi was completely unaware of the feelings of uneasiness being experienced by her friends. She was too busy boasting about their victory and how they could now defeat any enemy that was put in front of them. "We so totally rocked, you guys! Luna, did you see how Rei and I combined our attacks together and created that flaming disc?"

Her guardian cat, Luna was walking alongside her. Luna had human intelligence and the ability to speak. However, she chose to remain silent as they continued onward. There was no question that she was proud of her charges and their newly discovered realization that teamwork is always the best strategy, especially when fighting for life and death. However, she knew, with some minor annoyance, that sooner or later, especially in the case of Usagi, that important concept would be quickly forgotten and have to be re-taught all over again. Both Usagi and Rei tended to be brash and rush in to things, while Ami was more content to stay in the background. They would somehow have to learn to work together until it was like second nature.

With nothing solid to work with, both Rei and Ami each decided it was best to remain quiet about their strange feelings as there was little they could do. It was getting late and they had to get back to their respective homes before their parents began to worry. Added to that was the reality that it was fast approaching the city-wide curfew for people their age. It would do them no good to be caught outside by a passing police officer and have their parents notified. When the group reached the intersection that marked the entrance to the Azabu-Juban district of the Minato Ward, they split up and headed in different directions. Rei headed towards the Shrine while Ami, Luna, and Usagi continued on into Azabu-Juban.

As Rei walked away from her friends the unseen presence stayed with her. Just like before, it did not diminish or get stronger. She looked all around hoping to get a glimpse of whatever was following her. _Whatever it is, it is moving with the grace of a skilled ninja_. Her quiet whisper only seemed to increase the troublesome feelings inside her. She went on full alert as she continued to walk so she could react at a moment's notice if whatever was following her suddenly made itself known. She glanced down at her watch and quietly cursed. It was getting really late and she had to get back to the temple or else her grandfather would start to get worried and angry. Approximately twenty minutes later she reached the Shrine. She quietly walked around to the far side of the structure to where her bedroom was located. As she slid the outside door closed behind her she immediately felt the presence disappear. This intensified the concern inside her because it meant that whatever had been following her now knew where she lived.

When she was safely inside her bedroom, she took a deep breath to try and relax some of the tension she was feeling. She glanced down at her shirt and pursed her lips. During their post-battle celebration, the girls got ice cream cones and true to form, Usagi had stumbled and spilled it across the front of Rei's shirt. She sighed out load as she decided to change her clothes as she did not want to sleep in a sticky shirt. After she changed into her pyjamas she kept herself on full mental alert in case of an attack from the mystery stalker that had been following her and her friends. Eventually, her fatigue and physical exhaustion overtook her and she fell into a deep sleep.

She awoke to bright sunshine the next morning with a start. Intense panic surged through her body as she quickly scanned her room to look for any signs that something sinister had occurred while she had slept. After a visual sweep satisfied her that nothing looked out of place, she breathed a sigh of relief.

She rested her head in her hands as her arms sat on top of her legs. Silently, she asked herself if her psychic abilities had become over sensitive to her surroundings and that she was simply sensing things that were not there. Perhaps she was suffering from residual effects of the illusion cast on her and Usagi by the Dream Princess at the amusement park. She sighed as she remembered believing that Tuxedo Mask had appeared and wanted to frolic with them on the amusement park rides. When the real Tuxedo Mask arrived, and broke the monster's spell, the feeling of embarrassment she had felt was overwhelming. Unlike the care-free personality of Usagi, she had been raised in a strict lifestyle of responsibility and maturity. She prided herself on not being as gullible as her friend and but there was something about that dashing formal-suited hero that made her usual demeanour go completely sideways. She sighed again as she thought about how she needed to get past that humiliation and refocus on preparing for Jadeite's next operation.

About a week later, the Sailors experienced again that same unsettling feeling of uneasiness. The girls had inadvertently stumbled upon another plan by Jadeite to steal the life energy of humans. This time he was using an old rusted ocean liner with a glamour spell cast upon it so that it appeared to be a beautiful luxury boat. The purpose of the deception was to lure unsuspecting couples aboard for a romantic cruise through Tokyo Bay, while instead Jadeite and his monster, Tetis, could drain their life energy.

Rei had won two tickets to the cruise from a local business earlier that day and had convinced Ami to go with her, much to the disappointment of Usagi. Not one to be discouraged, the feisty blonde became determined to attend the romantic cruise promised in the advertisement by any means necessary. As she watched the people board the ship, Usagi remained in the shadows and used the Lunar Pen to disguise herself as a photographer in order to gain access.

Over the course of the evening, Usagi as photographer, and Rei and Ami never ran into each other until Jadeite revealed himself to all the passengers onboard. When that happened, Usagi transformed into Sailor Moon and engaged Jadeite and Tetis while Ami and Rei watched on.

Tetis launched herself forward and drove both Sailor Moon and herself through a glass window where they landed on the open deck of the ship. Tetis gracefully propelled herself forward onto the railing of the ship and raised both of her arms. A second later, twin towers of ocean water spiraled up, violently churning the sea underneath them.

Sailor Moon stared in amazement and shock at the incredible display of magical power. Tetis thrust her arm forward and the water tower over her right shoulder shot down directly at Sailor Moon. The young blonde warrior jumped out of the way at the last second. The powerful water jet struck the metal of the deck and made a massive dent in it.

It was at that point that Sailor Mars and Mercury entered the fight. Sailor Mercury unleashed her 'Shabon Spray' to cover the area in a thick mist. Sailor Mars quickly followed it with her 'Fire Soul' fireball attack to weaken Tetis.

"Now Sailor Moon!" Sailor Mercury called out to her friend.

"Oh yea…" Sailor Moon replied with a nod of her head. She had been temporarily distracted by the arrival of her teammates. Sailor Mercury's call to her snapped back to reality.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon called out as she took the tiara from her forehead and magically willed it into an energy discus. She threw it forward where it struck and vapourized Tetis in a puddle of water.

With the defeat of Tetis, the twin sprouts of water disappeared and the ocean returned to its original calmness. The Sailor Soldiers each breathed a sigh of relief as they were once again victorious and delivered another serious blow to the arrogant Jadeite.

The glamour illusion cast upon the ship immediately lifted with Tetis' defeat and Jadeite's departure, to reveal the reality of the ocean liner to the passengers. The ship was almost completely covered in rust from stern to bow; the roof of the ship's reception hall had collapsed and was letting in the cold night air. There were large gaping holes in the ship's hull that were uncomfortably close to the ocean's surface.

The Tokyo police and Coast Guard came in short order to rescue the passengers once alerted to the situation. The Sailors transformed back into their civilian identities and watched the organized evacuation from an upper deck of the ship and waited for their turn to disembark. Ami was passing the time by reading a textbook that she had brought along in her purse while Rei and Usagi were bickering as usual.

"Well… so much for that romantic dream cruise for two." Usagi sighed as she lowered her head down to the guard rail.

"Next time I win any cruise tickets, I'm going to track down Tuxedo Mask and invite him to come along with me." Rei said with conviction, ignoring her friend's melancholy mood.

"You can't invite Tuxedo Mask!" Usagi exclaimed as Rei's statement immediately sunk in.

"Give me one good reason why not?" The raven-haired teenager countered as she turned her body to face Usagi.

"Because … because …" Usagi fumbled.

"Not again. Will they ever stop fighting?" Luna quietly said from her spot beside Ami.

"Not in our lifetime, Luna." Ami firmly stated as she continued to look out at the water.

The back and forth between the two continued for several minutes until they both stopped to catch their breath. It was at that moment that a wave of psychic energy washed over Rei. She immediately recognized the energy as belonging to the presence she had sensed a week prior after the Dreamland battle. Her eyes widened and she turned her head to follow the flow of invisible energy in an attempt to pinpoint its exact source.

Ami noticed the sudden movement and glanced at Rei. Her sapphire blue eyes narrowed as she silently watched her. Ami could tell by her friend's rigid body language that something was deeply troubling her. Usagi meanwhile, was under the assumption that Rei was ignoring her. She worked herself up into a frenzy and began ranting about how Rei was being mean to her again, still oblivious to the tension around her.

By now the raven-haired temple maiden was indeed ignoring Usagi and continued to focus her full attention on the large crowd of people below them that was being lowered into the waiting rescue boats in small groups. Ami scanned the mass of people as well for any suspicious looking characters or movements that could be the reason for Rei's sudden behavioural change. She couldn't be sure but something inside her was telling her that Rei was sensing the same thing she was.

They continued to scan the crowd until it was their turn to leave. The unknown presence remained with them the entire journey back to shore but quickly disappeared when the group of passengers broke up upon reaching the mainland. Rei gritted her teeth as she felt the aura fade away into the night with the disbanding crowd until it was completely gone. She looked over at Ami, who returned her gaze. The look in Ami's eyes told Rei that Ami too had felt the presence in her own way. Without drawing too much attention, Rei quietly moved towards her.

"We need to talk about this. Come to the shrine tomorrow evening." She whispered to her friend.

Ami slowly nodded before the police officers made their way over to continue clearing the area and forcing people to go home. The authorities would be out in force now and it was an uncommon sight for three young women to be outside their homes so late at night. To avoid raising any unnecessary suspicion from both the police and their parents, they would have to wait until tomorrow to meet and hope that nothing happened before then. Just like they had done a week before, the three of them walked together, except this time they walked in complete silence as Rei and Ami thought about the mystery presence and Usagi dreamed of the dashing hero, Tuxedo Mask.

The following evening, Ami arrived at the Hikawa Shrine where Rei welcomed her at the front gate with the usual pleasantries. Only after the sliding door of Rei's bedroom was firmly closed and they were safely alone did Rei's facial expression change to a serious one.

"You have felt it too, haven't you?"

Ami silently confirmed that she indeed had. Rei remained silent as she allowed her friend to collect her thoughts.

"I thought it was just my nervousness after the Dreamland battle. I assumed it was just my body still reacting to being caught and left completely defenseless at the mercy of that monster."

Rei nodded in agreement. She still had not fully forgiven herself for falling for the Dream Princess' illusion. She couldn't get passed the fact that she should have immediately seen through it and hated that she had put herself in such a dangerous position. It would be mistakes like that which could end up getting her or one of her friends killed.

"I felt it follow me all the way back to the shrine after we split up. I was sure that something was going to happen."

Ami looked over at Rei with both shock and concern. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like to be home and not feel completely safe because some unknown force was lurking just outside. Rei noticed her friend's reaction and it touched her deeply that she was showing such concern for her safety.

"When nothing happened, I thought the same as you — that it was just a left over feeling from our recent battles with Jadeite. I didn't tell you or Usagi because I didn't think there was anything to worry about. However, last night…"

Rei paused as she remembered how she had felt when she was suddenly jolted by the return of the mystery presence that she had dismissed before. Ami remained seated as she watched her friend, the concern on her face spreading. After a few tense seconds of silence, Ami saw her friend blink as her mind became refocused on what was going on.

"Something is following us and we need to be on alert." Rei said with concern in her voice.

Ami nodded in agreement. A few more seconds of silence passed between them as both of thought about whom or what could be stalking them. A barrage of different monsters or other suspects paraded through their brains as well a variety of reasons why it was happening. Ami's eyes gazed down to look at her hands on her lap.

"Should we tell Usagi about our suspicions?" Ami quietly asked.

Rei was silent as she thought about it. Usagi by nature was not the type of person to be cautious or give this information the serious attitude that Ami and Rei felt it deserved. However, she was still their friend and that left them really with only one course of action.

"We have to. If it really is an enemy, we can't leave her in the dark! We will tell her tomo—"

A sudden clash of what sounded like thunder cut through Rei's sentence. She spun her body around and ran to the sliding door of her room which was located off of an outdoor courtyard. The courtyard had no ceiling or skylight which made it completely open to the elements. She ran outside, with Ami following close behind, and gasped at what they saw in the clear starry night sky.

A huge semi-transparent image of Jadeite's head and torso appeared. As Ami and Rei's minds raced at what the holographic image could mean and how they should react, Jadeite began to laugh manically. His deep rolling laughter boomed across the windless night that blanketed the city and echoed off the buildings.

"I have come to challenge you to a duel Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Mars! Meet me on Runway F at Haneda airport. One o'clock tomorrow night!"

Rei and Ami exchanged looks filled with trepidation and concern. It was clear from the volume of Jadeite's voice and the size of his image in the night sky that he was addressing the entire city at once and not them specifically. It was a small relief that Jadeite still hadn't learned their secret identities but they both had known that, sooner or later, something like this was going to occur. Their frequent victories over Jadeite would finally cause him to target them directly in an attempt to remove their constant interfering with his schemes. As that terrifying realization settled inside their young minds, what happened next shook them to the very depths of their souls.

"Otherwise …"

Jadeite leaned down towards the city and blew a fireball from his mouth. In a flash of blinding white light the cityscape became engulfed in terrifying flames. When the ball of fire spewed from his mouth Ami and Rei bolted towards the front of the shrine to meet whatever attack Jadeite had just launched. The horrible sight that awaited them when they arrived at the top of the staircase just outside the front gate was something that neither of them could have ever imagined. Huge blazing infernos could be seen spilling out of windows in buildings all around them and orange-red towers of fire and smoke rose high into the night sky.

It was a truly dreadful sight to behold. Rei and Ami were terrified beyond measure as they looked out at their city from their position at the shrine's gates. They could do nothing but stand and watch as their city burned, their bodies were frozen in place. Across town, Usagi and Luna were witnessing the same horrific spectacle which had interrupted Usagi's star gazing from her bedroom window.

High above them, the image of Jadeite stood up straight and, with an arrogant smirk, snapped his white gloved fingers. A second later, the city was back to normal with no traces of any of the flames or fires.

"Ha! That's only an illusion but if you don't show up, I'll burn this city to ashes."

Jadeite's image vanished and left only the black starry night above the city once again. The gravity of his announcement and the image of the city engulfed in flames remained firmly ingrained in Ami and Rei's minds. The gauntlet had been thrown by their enemy and they both knew that all three of them had to respond to it. They knew that Jadeite would not hesitate to unleash complete destruction upon the city which would result in immeasurable deaths and untold suffering.

The following night at the airport turned out to be an evening of close calls and extreme danger. After being delivered to the airport by an empty monorail sent by Jadeite, Rei, Ami and Usagi had been forced to fight their way through the terminals that were filled with clay monsters disguised as police officers. The tide of the battle and swarms of fiends forced the girls out onto the tarmac. Once the police officers' true natures were revealed by Ami's supercomputer, the girls transformed into their Sailor uniforms. As a result, they revealed their civilian identities to Jadeite, who was watching from the shadows above them.

Once the last of the clay monsters had been destroyed, they had to keep from being flattened by two jumbo jets that were being magically controlled by Jadeite. It was only through the timely intervention of the super hero Tuxedo Mask that the Sailor Soldiers were saved from certain death. This gave them a chance to regroup and form an offensive strategy.

Tuxedo Mask confronted Jadeite as the Sailors gathered together. They watched with great concern as the two males engaged in a midair power struggle that carried them both out over the open ocean water next to the airport runways. The close-quarters combat caused both of them to fall beneath the rolling sea waves and out of sight.

The Sailors watched the water's edge with nervous anticipation, looking for any sign of what was happening underneath the unsettlingly calm ocean surface. After what seemed like hours a single red rose, which was Tuxedo Mask's signature weapon, bobbed up to the surface. It floated on the surface for a few seconds before the flower began to fall apart and scatter out in all directions from the movement of the rippling water. That single visual and the possible meanings behind it began to fill each of the Sailors with feelings of dread and fear as to the fate of their masked ally. However, they did not have any time to let those feelings fully sink in as Jadeite suddenly erupted from the water. The quiet night air around them became filled with the sounds of his insane laughter.

"Tuxedo Mask,-Is he...?" Sailor Mars whispered out loud.

"Jadeite, what have you done to him?" Sailor Moon cried out with worry.

"That's all that's left of him, that stupid rose! Tuxedo Mask didn't have a chance against me! And now, it's your turn. Do you really think you can defeat me?" Jadeite smugly remarked.

"We can defeat you Jadeite and every monster you send against us!" Sailor Mars confidently replied back.

"That's right! We fight for love and justice and together, we will triumph!" Sailor Mercury added with a look of fierce determination.

"United we're invincible!" Sailor Moon added.

They were filled with a greater sense of determination and resolve to punish Jadeite for what he had done to Tuxedo Mask; as a result, the tide of the battle quickly began to shift in the Sailors' favour. Through the use of teamwork and playing to their individual strengths, the Sailors were able to first distract and then trick Jadeite, causing him to lose his mental concentration on the planes he was controlling. He ended up caught in the path between the two airplanes. The plane behind him struck him head-on and sent him crashing to the ground before being run over by the multi-ton vehicle. His enhanced strength and inhuman nature allowed him to survive the brutal assault, but suffer severe injuries. He issued one final threat to them as he faded away into the quiet night air:

"Next time Sailors, I will kill you! I now know who you are." Jadeite struggled to say in between fits of violent coughing. He placed his hand on the front of his shoulder as he visibly fought to stay standing.

The Sailors did not fully hear his threat or notice his departure as they were already heading back to the spot where Tuxedo Mask had disappeared into the water. They called out to him and scanned the water's surface for any signs of movement or indication as to what had happened to him. As the seconds ticked by and no evidence of his existence other than the few petals that were still visible from the red rose, the trio of young female heroes reluctantly accepted that Jadeite had indeed succeeded in killing him. Tears of sadness streamed down their faces as they felt the cold sense of grief of losing someone that they deeply cared about rapidly fill them up. He had come to their rescue in almost every battle and now he was dead for trying to save them yet again.

"Tuxedo Mask… I can't believe he's gone." Usagi quietly said.

"But he is I'm afraid. You must all learn to fight without him," Luna replied, her tone trying to sound as sympathic as possible.

"Never… Never…!" Usagi wailed.

As the harsh reality continued to sink in with them, a familiar voice behind them startled them from their sorrow.

"I'm glad you were all worried about me."

The Sailors quickly spun around to look at where the voice had come from. Their eyes were wide with the hope that he was alive and ok. Sure enough, Tuxedo Mask was alive. He was standing on top of one of the planes that Jadeite had been controlling.

"Tuxedo Mask! Jadeite said he'd destroyed you!" Sailor Moon exclaimed with happiness.

"I'm not so easy to get rid of." He replied with a charming smirk.

"Tell me, Tuxedo Mask, why do you always show up just at the right time to save us?" Sailor Mercury inquired, taking a step forward.

"For now, I am afraid, that must remain a secret. Sailor Moon! Sailor Mars! Sailor Mercury! Be loyal and true friends to each other. Farewell!" Then he turned and leapt away with a flap of his black cape and quickly disappeared into the night, leaving the Sailors to enjoy their victory amongst themselves. The three young women continued to watch him until he was out of sight. Sailor Moon sighed affectionately as she stared at his quickly fading image. After he had vanished, Sailor Mercury reached out and took Sailor Moon's arm to break her lovesick trance.

"We need to get moving. The real police will be here soon", said Sailor Mercury.

"Ami is right. We don't want to get caught here, or worse, our parents if they discover that we aren't home" said Sailor Mars

Sailor Moon turned her head to look first at Sailor Mars and then to Sailor Mercury. The thought of her mother's angry face if she happened to look in her room and not find her in bed sent a chill up her spine. "You're right. Let's get going."

The girls quickly hurried to the dark shadows and made their way to the perimeter of the airport to start the journey back to their individual homes. A short distance away Tuxedo Mask continued to race along the rooftops as he headed to his apartment. A frenzy of thoughts paraded through his mind as he leapt from building to building. He mentally replayed the last minutes of the battle over and over as he tried to make sense of what had happened. When he and Jadeite had fallen beneath the ocean waves and continue their struggle, the sinister fiend had managed to land a physical blow that had temporarily rendered him unconscious. Jadeite had then quickly followed that up with a paralyzing energy blast that was meant to keep Tuxedo Mask from recovering and thus cause him to drown in the dark ocean water.

What was continuing to trouble him, besides the fact that he had almost just been killed, was the fact that he didn't know why he hadn't been. He clearly remembered regaining consciousness as he continued to sink deeper into the ocean but quickly realized his body was still paralyzed as a result of the energy blast. He knew it was an energy blast because he had seen a bright flash of light just before his eyesight went dark. A shiver ran up his spine as he recalled the feeling of panic that had enveloped him as he tried desperately to get his limbs to move.

Just when it had seemed that his time had run out, he had felt a pair of arms wrap tightly around him and begin to lift him towards the ocean's surface. He still could not move his neck or head so he could only use his peripheral vision to try and see his rescuer. He saw glimmers of red in the dimness of the water and the limited view that his eyes provided him. He saw the quick shades of crimson as they encircled his body and believed them to be some sort of textured gloves that were around his chest as they headed up towards the surface. He, at the time, believed it had been either Sailor Moon or Sailor Mars since they were the only Sailors with red in their costumes.

Once they reached the surface, his mysterious rescuer had carried and placed him on the shore. The unseen saviour positioned him on his side so that he could spit up any water that had gotten into his lungs. The rescuer had remained behind him the whole time and had disappeared by the time his body had regained the ability to move.

When Jadeite was defeated shortly after, Tuxedo Mask positioned himself in a location so that he could make a quick exit should he need too. As he watched the Sailors look for him in the water, he noticed something that unsettled him. Neither Sailor Moon, nor any of the other Sailors were dripping wet. It was at that moment that he realized that it could not have been any of them that had rescued him. So, the question that haunted him was: Who exactly was the mysterious rescuer with the red gloves?

It was a question that would not get immediately answered. When Jadeite had returned to his base, his mistress Queen Beryl was infuriated with his latest failure. Before he had a chance to tell her the civilian identities of the Sailors, she encased him in a crystal cocoon and banished him to the darkest reaches of oblivion forever.

Back in the city, each of the trio of warriors returned to their respective homes. As they each prepared for a night of well-deserved sleep, they were filled with the mixed feelings of confidence at defeating Jadeite again and the nervousness of what the future would now hold for them. Sailor Mercury was especially nervous as she had been standing closest to Jadeite before he had disappeared at the airport. The look in his eyes as threatened them convinced her that the war between them and the Dark Kingdom was only going to get worse.

Sailor Mercury's assumption had proven correct and the months following the Sailors' last battle with Jadeite had proven to be some of the toughest yet. During this time, the Silver Imperium Crystal was located, and the seven Rainbow Crystals were brought together following an intense three-way battle between the Sailors, Tuxedo Mask, and Zoisite. The seven small stones, when combined together, form this larger silver crystal that was immediately drawn to Sailor Moon. With it in their possession, the Sailor Soldiers gained a powerful new weapon to use against the Dark Kingdom. The crystal's unexpected emergence also revealed that the long lost princess of the Moon Kingdom, Princess Serenity, was none other than Usagi. Almost as shocking was the revelation that Mamoru was actually the masked ally of the Sailors, Tuxedo Mask. In the aftermath of the battle that revealed both the Imperium Silver Crystal and Usagi's identity as Princess Serenity, Mamoru was captured and brainwashed into becoming a servant of the Dark Kingdom.

While all of these events were unfolding, the mysterious presence continued to follow the Sailors. In almost every battle, Rei had sensed it lurking somewhere nearby. Sometimes the evil energy being released by the monster they were fighting would mask or dull the energy signature of their unseen watcher; but it was still undeniably there. The rest of the Sailors were aware of this reoccurring phenomenon and were each trying in their own way to deduce who or what it could be.

Rei was fairly sure that, whatever it was, it wasn't an agent of the Dark Kingdom. She explained to the rest of the team that every monster that they had faced had a similar energy pattern. This specific structure differed slightly to show the uniqueness of each monster, much like how DNA separates humans from each other but still keeps them in the same biological classification.

Even more unsettling to the Sailors, besides the notion that they still did not know the slightest thing about this unseen individual was the reality that it had been progressively getting closer to them with each encounter.

Recently, Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus had even managed to catch brief glimpses of a shadowy figure watching them during battle. The sailor of flame, Sailor Mars was certain that the shadowy figure was their mysterious stalker. Its slow progress at getting closer to them did not immediately mean that this mysterious figure posed any threat, but that still did not mean that it was not going to become one in the future. They had to remain on alert just in case.

The day of reckoning finally occurred shortly after the Sailors returned from their vacation to a posh ski resort. Usagi, and the two newest Sailors, Makoto and Minako were spending the early afternoon window shopping in the shopping district of the Azabu-Juban district of Tokyo. The two girls were doing their best to distract Usagi from her crippling feelings of desperation and sadness over the loss of Mamoru, who was still a brainwashed servant of the Dark Kingdom. He had made three appearances since his capture; and each time his actions only led to confusing Usagi about whether he was evil or not.

Makoto Kino was a tall, brunette with long wavy hair that she often wore in a ponytail. Her height and above-average strength for a girl of her age had made her a social outcast in the culture of Japanese society that promotes homogeneity. She had a reputation for fighting and having a fierce temper which only further made people fear and ostracize her. She had long ago resigned herself to a life of solitude until she met Usagi and learned of her own destiny as the sailor of thunder, Sailor Jupiter.

Minako Aino was the latest person to join both Usagi's inner circle of friends and the Sailor team respectfully. True to her character and flair for the dramatic, she had made her presence known by first saving Tuxedo Mask from the Dark Kingdom general, Zoisite and then rescuing the rest of the sailors from certain death at the hands of the other general and Zoisite's lover, Kunzite.

In a hidden location, Kunzite, the last of the Dark Kingdom's generals, watched the three girls through a magical screen. He decided that this was a perfect opportunity to launch an attack to draw out the Sailors and keep them occupied while Mamoru, in his guise as Prince Endymion, was on another mission for Queen Beryl. Using the recent intelligence he received from one of his spies, he selected a monster from own his personal army that he felt would be enough to finally eliminate the threat the Sailors posed to the Dark Kingdom. He picked this particular monster because it could counter and adapt to the Sailors' attacks and thus leave Sailor Moon vulnerable to either being killed or captured. "You, Adaptor, go and kill the Princess and her guardians. Bring back the Silver Crystal and do not fail me!"

Usagi and the others were leaving a perfume boutique when the monster suddenly appeared in front of them. The huge hulking fiend stood about 6'4" with a humanoid stature. It had sharp spikes running along the outside of its forearms and legs. Its skin colour was that of metallic silver and it glistened in the early afternoon sunlight. It immediately fixed its black coal-coloured eyes on the three girls in front of it before lowering itself into an attack position. Its knees were bent and its arms rose up in front of it. It was clear that it was getting ready to spring forward at them in a full frontal assault.

At the monster's abrupt arrival, the girls quickly turned and ran in the opposite direction. By running away and acting frightened, it gave them the chance to duck into a nearby alley where they could transform into their Sailor personas without revealing their secret identities.

"Jupiter Power Make-Up"

"Venus Power Make-Up"

"Moon Prism Power Make-Up"

Moments later they jumped up to the rooftop of one of the buildings around the alley and headed back towards where they last saw the monster. When they found it they tensed up as they observed it about to tear into a group of people that it had cornered against the side of a building.

"Hold it right there. People have the right to shop in peace without the fear of being terrorized by abominations like you. In the name of the Moon I will punish you." Sailor Moon yelled down at the monster.

They jumped down from the rooftop that they had positioned themselves on and quickly formed a triangle around the monster. Upon closer inspection of their opponent they could see that there was something strange about its skin. From a distance, what had first appeared to be metallic and solid like a rock or an elephant's hide was actually spongy and rubberlike.

The monster immediately went into an attack barrage by thrusting its arms out with the intent to use its forearm spikes to either slice or impale the Sailors. Sailor Venus easily dodged the swipes that were meant for her and raised her hand to signal that she was going to use her Crescent Beam attack. She placed her right index finger on her tiara as she collected the necessary energy from her surrounding environment. When she felt she had gathered enough power she fired the beam when the monster became engaged by Sailor Jupiter.

"Crescent Beam!" Sailor Venus shouted.

The monster sensed the incoming attack and tensed its muscles. These series of actions caused the large muscle groups to contract and turn the shiny properties of its skin into a makeshift mirror. The yellow beam hit the reflective surface and bounced back at Sailor Venus. Using her enhanced agility, she was able to twist her body enough that she narrowly avoided a direct hit. The beam still managed to graze her which disrupted her body's alignment and altered her overall path through the air. She landed against a steel security door of a closed store. She hit the unforgiving metal and slumped down as the wind was temporarily taken out of her and her vision became fuzzy.

"Sailor Venus!" Sailor Jupiter screamed from her position a few feet away.

The sight of her friend lying against the door infuriated the physically strong Sailor. She immediately launched into a frenzy of kung fu punches and kicks that called upon her many years of martial arts training. The monster reacted by blocking and avoiding many of these blows before hitting her with an open-fisted punch to the abdomen. Sailor Jupiter stumbled backwards in response and put some distance between her and the monster. The intense anger inside her surged through her veins and masked the lingering pain she was still feeling from the monster's punch. She lifted her head and crossed her arms.

"My guardian Jupiter, brew a storm, call the clouds, bring down the lightning, Supreme Thunder." Sailor Jupiter said as she closed her eyes in concentration.

A bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and hit the small antennae in the middle of her tiara. She threw her crossed arms outwards and directed the collected electrical energy at her adversary. Her blast hit the monster but it quickly became clear that it had no visible effect. There were no guttural screams of pain, no explosion of released energy, nothing. The electrical blast seemed to disappear without a trace of contact with the monster.

Sailor Jupiter stared at the monster with a dumbfounded look. Sailor Moon screamed out in fear as she put her hands up to her face and visibly trembled where she stood. The monster's only response was a bout of hysterical laughter.

"My skin is made of a substance similar to what you humans call rubber. Your pathetic electricity will not work on me," the monster confidently snarled.

"Oh my God! None of our attacks are working! What are we going to do?" Sailor Moon screamed.

Before Sailor Jupiter could respond to her friend's terrified question, the monster slammed both of its fists into the ground which sent a spreading fissure through the concrete in two directions. Each one headed for one of the still standing Sailors. The cracks moved through the sidewalk at incredible speed and knocked both of the Sailors off their feet as a result. Sailor Moon fell back onto her butt while Sailor Jupiter fell against a utility pole. She hit her head against the concrete base of the pole, temporarily disorienting her. The monster, satisfied that the last threat had been thoroughly dealt with, turned its attention to Sailor Moon.

"Time to die, Moon Princess."

A figure suddenly dropped from the rooftop above and landed in the open space between the monster and Sailor Moon. The newest entry to the battle had its back to her, so she couldn't see its face but what she did see was enough to question her sanity. The thing standing between her and the Dark Kingdom's assassin appeared to be approximately 6'0" and humanoid shaped. Its entire body was mostly blood red with patches of black scattered along its surface. Its skin seemed to look like melted wax and was in a state of constant motion as if thousands of insects were moving underneath it. The newest creature had no hair and appeared to be very muscular underneath its red skin. A deep and raspy sounding voice sprang from its mouth.

"Stay away from her!"

The monster sprung forward with its arms across its chest with the intention to run its forearm spikes through the obstacle standing between it and its target. In a flurry of movement, tendrils of red material sprang out from the red being's body. At the same time, its right arm transformed into a wide surface shield. The organic safeguard blocked the spikes and allowed the tendrils to tightly encircle it and restrict any further movements. The red being's left hand then morphed into a double bladed axe.

The monster continued to struggle in vain against the tendrils as it tried to get some form of leverage to break free. As quickly as the red monster's first movements were, the next two seemed to happen at light speed.

The metallic monster suddenly slumped forward and its arms and legs went limp. The red being stepped to the side which showed Sailor Moon what had just happened. A spike or lance from the red being's chest had impaled the monster through its upper torso and erupted out its back. When the lance was retracted back into the red being's body the silver monster dropped to its knees. In one quick motion, the red figure raised its axe shaped limb above its head and proceeded to cut the monster's head off. The severed head hit the pavement of the sidewalk and bounced once with a sickening thud before crumbling to dust along with the rest of its body.

The red figure's limbs quickly reverted back to the humanlike hands they had originally been. It then turned to look directly at Sailor Moon. She gasped as she fully took in what she was seeing. She slowly stood up and was vaguely aware that Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus were standing beside her after recovering and had also bared witness to the final moments of the battle.

The red being was humanoid, having two arms that ended in five fingers with a sharp black claw on each and two solid looking legs. Its skin continued to flow like a fluid and was constantly in motion along the length of its limbs and torso. The most striking feature about their mysterious saviour was its face. It had no visible nose, ears, or lips, and was completely bald. Its mouth, which easily made up half of its face, was filled with dozens of sharp needle like black teeth. Its eyes were teardrop shaped and solid white with no pupils. The size of each eye was huge and covered almost the entire remaining part of the face that wasn't already occupied by the mouth.

"You are the one that has been following us all these months, aren't you?" Sailor Moon nervously asked.

"Yes."

"Who are you?" Sailor Venus asked with a stern tone in her voice.

"I am Carnage."

The Sailor Soldiers risked a brief look at each other. They were unsure of what to make of their rescuer, now known as Carnage. As if sensing their internal confusion, he spoke again.

"It is time that I tell you everything. Gather your teammates and I will meet you at the Hikawa Shrine later this evening."

Then, with a leap, he jumped up to the nearest roof top and was gone in an instant. The Sailors stared at where he had disappeared for several minutes as they tried to comprehend what had just occurred. They all knew that they had to inform Ami and the others about what had happened and to make preparations for that night.

Without wasting any more time, they quickly ducked back into the nearest alley where they transformed back into their civilian identities before racing off to find their friends.

End of chapter one…


	3. An Ally of a Different Name

Chapter Two: An Ally of a Different Name

The Sailor Soldiers, in civilian form, gathered around the front entrance of the Hikawa Shrine. It had been almost seven hours since the battle outside the perfume shop, yet it seemed like the incident had happened only minutes before. Makoto, Minako and Usagi had managed to track down Rei, Ami and Luna with relative ease following the encounter. As it had turned out, Luna had been visiting Ami at her apartment to discuss their next move against the Dark Kingdom, and Rei had been at the temple completing her many daily chores.

Makoto, Minako and Usagi updated their friends on all the recent events and then analyzed possibilities as to who the red-garbed being was and what his cryptic message could be. It quickly became clear that there were several different ideas of how to handle the impending visit from the mysterious newcomer.

"He saved me from that monster. He has to be an ally." Usagi excitedly exclaimed.

"I agree. The enemy of my enemy is also my bed." Minako added with her index finger raised to emphasize her point.

Artemis, Minako's guardian cat, looked up at her with surprise before lowering his head in embarrassment and sighing deeply.

"It's actually 'The enemy of my enemy is also my friend'." He quietly corrected her with a clear tone of mortification in his voice.

"Oh well, that works, too." Minako laughed cheerfully.

"Actually Minako, I don't think that phrase applies to this particular situation." Ami countered with Luna and Rei nodding in agreement.

"Remember everyone, we have seen Kunzite and Prince Endymion fighting recently. We have to assume that this could be another power struggle within the Dark Kingdom." Luna stated flatly.

"I am leaning towards Usagi's side on this one." Makoto stated after a few seconds of silence as everyone considered Luna's point.

"Thank you Mako-chan." Usagi excitedly beamed as she spun her head around to look at the tall brunette. The others paid no attention to Usagi and turned to look at Makoto. They remained quiet as they silently urged her to elaborate further and offer her reasons for her current position on the matter at hand.

"This creature could have easily continued the attack after he destroyed the other monster. Sailor Venus and I were still recovering from being tossed around which left Sailor Moon vulnerable. From what I saw, this newcomer was incredibly fast and strong. It would have had no problem taking us out quickly if that was its intention. Plus the nature of its powers would have allowed it to engage us all at once or in close quarters and catch us completely off guard. Much like what it did with the Dark Kingdom's monster. If you put all that together, you get something that is far beyond our current skill level."

She paused to let that last point sink in with the group before continuing. It was not a pleasant thought at all. The reality that there was something out there that they couldn't handle was unsettling. It sent a noticeable shiver through their bodies.

"The bottom line is that if this creature was indeed doing the Dark Kingdom's business, it could have continued to fight us and win. I truly think Usagi may be right. That means it is at least a new player in this war and, for the moment, it seems to want to side with us."

As the rest of the group quietly considered Makoto's points, Ami remembered something that she hadn't thought about in quite some time. Her mind drifted back to the first time she had met Sailor Moon and the battle at her after-school study seminar that had ultimately led her to discover her own true identity as Sailor Mercury: the soldier of water and wisdom.

"From what you have described about the monster's powers it sounds very similar to the monster that took over the Crystal Seminar cram school and was using the special computer discs to drain the energy of the students. If I am remembering correctly, that particular monster had the ability to morph its arms into knives or axes just like the being you encountered."

Usagi's face crinkled and she let a loud grunt escape her mouth at the very mention of the Crystal Seminar monster. That creature, whose name was Garoben, held an especially harsh distain for Usagi because it had not only tried to kill her but had the audacity to test her intelligence with science-related questions as they had battled. It was one thing to try to kill her but quizzing her at the same time was a whole new level of evil.

"Excuse me."

The girls all looked up from their semi-circle and trained their eyes towards the sound of the unexpected voice. Approximately fifteen feet away was a young man. He stood about six feet tall with sandy blonde hair and thin eyeglasses. He was wearing a red short sleeved golf shirt with black track pants and a pair of white and black running shoes. He appeared to be fit with some hints of a muscular body underneath his shirt. From his clothes the girls figured he was either a tourist or a new resident to the area. His attire did not match the common fashion styles that were usually worn around the community.

"I am looking for the Hikawa Shrine. I was told it was this way but I don't speak Japanese so I can't read any of the signs or landmarks. Can you help me?"

The girls looked at the young man and then each other with confused looks. None of the girls or guardian cats was fluent in English, so they had absolutely no idea what this young man had said. Minako had lived in England for a year when she had been battling monsters that she later suspected were from the Dark Kingdom. During that period of time she had been given lessons in reading and writing in the English language but once she had moved back to Tokyo she had forgotten much of what she had been taught. Some of the words this young man had used were ones that she recognized but it was still not enough to fully understand what this visitor had said.

The girls all turned to look at Ami, who was the only one of them who could possibly translate the young man's words. They were all very aware of Ami's intense study habits and a few of them knew about her own personal goal of memorizing a hundred English words a day as part of those aforementioned academic study routines.

Ami's body physically tensed as she felt the pressure being put upon her. She was not comfortable with being the centre of attention and the red flushing in her cheeks was a testament to that. She took in a deep breath to relax her mind and body as she mentally recalled what she had just heard the man say. She replayed each word and looked for the keywords that she knew.

Once Ami formulated what she believed the man had been asking, she lifted her head to catch Rei's attention to translate for her. Rei nodded her head and gave her friend a small smile to thank her for the clarification. She turned back around to properly address the young man. She didn't know what was going to happen if the red creature suddenly appeared, so she decided that having an innocent person at the shrine would not be the best thing. She didn't like having to turn this person away when he had come possibly for help, but it would only complicate things if the upcoming meeting they were anticipating turned bad. She spoke to him in Japanese with Ami translating for the man behind her.

"Shrine closed today. Come back tomorrow."

The man first looked at Ami over Rei's shoulder and then at the black-haired temple maiden. He casually put his hands together and respectively bowed to each of them before turning around to walk away. Both of the girls returned the polite gesture and each gave him a smile. For them and their friends seeing this stranger give his thanks in the customary tradition of their country filled each of them with an internal sense of pride. The gentleman's small gesture was very welcome at this time when they were unsure of what could happen shortly.

The girls turned back around so that they could return to their previous discussion about how to handle the red creature when and if it were to show up. Behind them the young man took a few more steps toward the long descending flight of stairs that lead down to the street before casually turning back around to address the group of girls once again. Makoto, who had been watching the man's departure, perked her body up at the sudden movement. This unexpected motion got the other girls' attention and they all turned their heads in unison to look at her. Makoto didn't break her gaze and the other girls followed her eyes to turn and look at the young man again. He was still facing them and they all logically assumed that he merely had another question.

"Thank you Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars," the man said in perfect Japanese.

The man followed up his comment by giving them a friendly smile as he stood up straighter and rolled his shoulders. His demeanour noticeably changed and he became much more confident-looking and suddenly seemed to radiate a sense of internal power. Almost instantly Rei jolted and her eyes sprang open as a rush of psychic energy bombarded her senses. It was the same aura and the same energy of their mysterious stalker she had been sensing these past few months.

"It's him!" she shouted to the rest of the group.

In response to her announcement the man's right shirt sleeve seemingly melted and flowed down his exposed forearm. In an instant his entire limb became covered in the red free-flowing skin. The girls jumped up from their positions on the Shrine's steps and fell into their battle stances beside Rei. They waited for the attack that they were all convinced was coming. Each of them produced their transformation pens so that they were ready to change into their sailor personas at a second's notice.

However, as the seconds quickly ticked by, the young man made no aggressive movement. He just stood there and watched them as if perhaps he was waiting for them to attack him first. A tense standoff was in progress as both sides anxiously held their fire.

The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife and all of the girls' senses were on high alert. They were completely focused on the man. After what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a minute or two, the man put his nonhuman arm down at his side. That small gesture alarmed the highly anxious Minako who thought it was the beginning of an attack. In response she raised her transformation stick and began to shout out her transformation's activation phrase.

"Venus Power Make -"

The man immediately raised his human arm and extended it out towards the group of girls. His fist was open and all five fingers extended out in the universally recognized sign for 'Stop'. Minako almost missed the gesture but managed to see it in time to abort her alteration. Her pen stopped glowing and proceeded to power down as she lowered her arm.

The man lowered his arm again and his right arm immediately reverted back to its human appearance as the red material retreated upwards and reformed into the sleeve of his shirt. To the Sailors, this series of gestures confused them as it appeared that the man was trying to convince them that he was really no threat to them. They were now even more curious as to who exactly this person was and why he so interested in them. In all of their minds, the same questions raced through them.

_Who or what is this creature? How did he learn about their sailor identities? Why did this monster just stop Minako from transforming? _

As those questions consumed their thoughts the man continued to silently watch them. The look on his face seemed to suggest that he could read their minds and knew exactly what they were thinking. He straightened his shoulders again and spoke in a calm and clear voice. Just like before he addressed them in perfect Japanese.

"My sincere apologies. I did not mean to alarm you. I merely wanted to let you know who I really was. I can assure all of you that I did not come here to fight. I came to give you answers to the questions I am sure you have about me, just as I promised." The man looked directly at Usagi, Makoto, and Minako when he spoke this.

Ami stepped forward in an attempt break the standstill they were all engaged in. Her body language made it clear that she was more than a little nervous and she was noticeably trembling as she felt the attention shift back to her again. When she found enough courage to speak her shaking voice only served to confirm that overall observation.

"Ok… we will listen to what you have to say."

"Is there a more private place that we could talk?" The man asked as he turned his head around to scan the shrine's grounds.

Ami looked over her shoulder at Rei and waited for her friend to offer a reply. Rei gave her a single nod and turned to lean the broom she had been holding against one of the support pillars of the shrine's main building. She turned back and gestured for her friends and the man to follow her as she started walking deeper into the shrine's compound.

Rei lead the group to the shrine's fire chamber which was where mediation and flame reading ceremonies were conducted. She slid the sliding paper door open and stepped inside. She took a step back and remained by the entrance to allow the others to enter behind her. The man entered the room first and was followed at a safe distance by the other girls. He proceeded to take a position in the center of the room and sit cross-legged on the floor with his back to the central fire pit and the girls sitting in a semi-circle in front of him.

To experienced fighters, such as Rei and Makoto, the reason for their guest's choice of location and body position was immediately apparent. By positioning himself in the center of the room and giving the girls an unobstructed escape route put him at a disadvantage should they spring a trap on him. This was meant to give the girls reassurance that his words could be taken as genuine and truthful. He had done this as a further way to prove to them that he was not a threat.

Once all the girls were settled on the floor and Rei had closed the door to ensure their privacy, the young man calmly cleared his throat.

"My name is Sean and yes, I am human. I have spent many years traveling the world and engaging in many battles against global and supernatural threats to this planet. I have also, on occasion, participated in operations against localized criminal cartels and domestic organizations that threaten the overall public safety."

"How did you get your powers?" Ami asked.

"I am part of a union between an alien symbiotic organism and a human being. My "other" requires a host body in order to survive and, in return, it has granted me several superhuman abilities such as enhanced strength, speed, and agility in addition to the morphing abilities that you have already witnessed."

The girls stared at Sean with a collective expression of utter confusion on their faces. They clearly did not understand the descriptive word "symbiotic" that their guest had used. They all looked to Ami and quietly waited for her to explain the word to them.

"His red skin is a living alien from outer space. It needs to live inside his body or it will die. The connection between them is similar to a fungus growing on the side of a tree, or bacteria inside a human body." Ami explained to them in the simplest way she could think of.

The other girls' faces lit up almost in unison as they understood, even Usagi's. The long-pigtailed blonde gave an extra look of disgust as she first thought about fungi and then about having something foreign willingly live inside her. The other girls' individual body movements showed that they were sharing Usagi's opinion regarding the parasitic nature of their guest's superhuman powers.

Sean grimaced in response to his alien friend being compared to something as unappealing as fungi. His partner was something far greater and together they had saved the Earth dozens of times. It deserved a greater amount of respect than that somewhat insulting comparison. Silently he resolved to prove to these young warriors that they could not so simply reduce his 'other' to such a simple and offensive equivalence.

"You clearly are not from around here. Where are you from originally?" Rei asked, drawing attention to his clothing and to get the conversation back on track.

"I am originally from the province of Ontario in the country of Canada. I discovered my other half as I was investigating a meteorite that had landed near where I was living. I was eleven years old at the time."

"How are you able to understand and speak Japanese and why did you speak in English? Especially when you spoke Japanese to us earlier after you saved us from that monster?" Minako asked with a tone of suspicion and curiosity.

"My alien partner is able to understand the languages of Earth and assist me in communication when needed. It is one of the many aspects that have made us such a successful planetary defender. I chose to not speak Japanese when I first arrived tonight because I wanted to test Sailor Mars' psychic abilities and whether she would sense my true identity right away. We were curious to see what the limits of her powers were."

Rei's face became tenser as she tilted her head downward to hide her expressions of frustration and embarrassment. She prided herself on being the best warrior of the group and took it extremely hard when she felt she had let the others down. The fact that this person had been able to get so close to them without her psychic senses alerting her was of great concern. They had been lucky this time but the next time it could end up being fatal to either her or one of her friends.

"Why haven't you shown yourself until now? Why have you been watching and following us all these months?" Minako followed up. Her sense of duty was taking over and she was not letting her guard down until she was sure this person was safe to be around.

"As I already alluded to, I have been traveling across this vast and beautiful planet to defend it and its people from threats – domestic ones, threats from outer space, and even extra-dimensional. Some time ago during my globetrotting, I began to have several encounters with monsters that were stealing the life force of living organisms. They would steal from anything but their main focus was humans. Through my investigation in these occurrences I learned that these beasts were being sent by an organization known as the Dark Kingdom. Further probing lead me to learn that their commanding general was a being known as Nephrite. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to locate him and the trail eventually ran cold. Then several months ago, I was in Europe and a dying monster revealed that the Dark Kingdom was currently focusing all of its resources on Tokyo, Japan for reasons that it did not reveal."

Sean looked over at Minako as he was describing his time in Europe. She saw this and her mind immediately flashed back to the time she had spent in England battling the Dark Kingdom at around the same time that Sean was seemingly implying. He clearly was aware of her many Sailor V adventures in London and maybe even witnessed some of them personally. She had also heard about the Dark Kingdom's new campaign in Japan and that was the main reason behind her return and joining up with the other Sailor Soldiers shortly after.

"I realized that this could be an opportunity to possibly end the Dark Kingdom's threat once and for all and thus could not be ignored. Soon after arriving in Japan I began to hear rumours of sailor-suited warriors battling monsters. I was curious to see if these rumours were in any way related to my current mission or part of another menace that I would have to personally deal with. The stories of the hero, Sailor V, were known to me and I was intrigued to see if she was following the same lead I was since she had last been seen in London as well. I tracked Sailors Mars, Mercury, and Moon down and silently observed you. I chose not to intervene or make my presence known to you unless it was proven absolutely necessary. This course of action allowed me to continue to operate freely around the city as I investigated on my own. Through my observations, I deduced that Sailor Mars and her civilian identity as Rei Hino possessed some degree of psychic sense that could pick up on the extraterrestrial energy given off by my 'other'. That conclusion made me more cautious in my actions as I wanted to maintain my level of discretion."

"So why did you decide to save us this time?" Makoto asked, breaking the silence in the room and speaking herself for the first time since Sean's arrival at the shrine. There was clearly more than a little doubt in her voice and her emerald eyes narrowed. She was very protective of her friends and it was clear to the rest of them that she wasn't completely convinced that this person could be fully trusted yet. The other girls turned to look at her. They observed the fierceness that was radiating from her eyes before turning their attention back to Sean to hear his response.

He looked at each of the girls one at a time, pausing to lock his blue eyes with each of theirs. The facial expression he gave them remained the same, devoid of any obvious emotion. To the girls it felt like he was sizing them up by studying each of them in order to see how strong or perhaps intimidated by him they were. The look in his eyes as he stared at them made them also think that he was about to reveal a bombshell that none of them would be expecting.

"I saved you for two reasons. The first was that I am a protector of Earth and all its inhabitants. Therefore it is against my nature and personal code to stand by and let an innocent person be needlessly murdered by a monster, especially if that person is another planet defender since there are so few of us. The second reason is because my 'other' used to help in the defense of the Moon Kingdom. It recognized the Imperium Silver Crystal embedded in your wand when you battled the monster at the hair salon a few weeks ago, as the same one once belonging to the Royal family."

The girls reacted with both surprise and shock as the reality of that confession sunk in with each of them. That explained why he had been following them, why he had saved them, and more importantly, why he had never been perceived as a threat by Rei's psychic abilities. At the same time, he had been revealed as another link to their previous lives when they had all lived together in the Moon Kingdom under the rule of Queen Serenity. Makoto's face softened slightly at his response to her question. However, she was still not completely convinced about his true motivations yet. There was still one more thing that continued to bother her.

"If you truly are on our side and are a protector of this world why do you call yourself Carnage? That word is not something that inspires feelings of comfort or peace to the people you claim to protect. It seems like a strange name to give to a supposed defender of Earth."

Sean looked at Makoto but did not appear to be offended or even angry at her somewhat blunt statement. Instead, he regarded her with a surrounding aura that suggested a sign of respect. He could see that she was a warrior to the core and not one to let her guard down easily. It was not the first time someone had asked him that particular question, and he was sure Makoto wouldn't be the last. He could certainly understand why people would question his choice in names when his actions suggested the complete opposite.

As the girls awaited Sean's response Minako began to flick her blue eyes back and forth between Sean and Makoto. Like Rei, she also had an extra sensory ability of sorts. Since her guardian planet was associated with the emotions of love, she had been given the extra power to see that specific emotion in other people. It allowed her to know when two people were attracted to each other or destined to be together, even before they fully realized it themselves. She was sensing something clearly forming between Sean and Makoto, but she couldn't tell what form it would take. She decided it was best to keep quiet about it since there were far more important things occurring that required her full attention.

Sean finally spoke. "In your past battles, have you not destroyed private property or inadvertently caused innocent people to be injured or left other forms of destruction and suffering as a result?"

The girls tensed as that question rolled around inside each of their brains. One by one, they turned their heads to either side and quietly exchanged looks amongst themselves as they each recalled memories of incidents where friends, such as Naru or Umino, had been caught in the cross-fire of their battles, or local businesses that had been severely damaged. They briefly thought about the after-effects of those battles and the rebuilding those people affected by their actions had to do to regain what they had lost.

It filled them with intense feelings of guilt and sadness as they came to realize that they hadn't really stopped to think about the people left behind after their victories. All they did was show up, defeat the enemy, and then return to their civilian lives as if nothing had happened. That disturbing realization was something that all of them were going to be thinking about for the next several days, if not longer.

Sean continued, "Would you not call that carnage? I am that necessary negative that is usually unavoidable in order to ensure the peace and prosperity of this planet."

The weight of that statement rang in the each of the girls' minds. Tonight would still end with a positive outcome. They had gained a new ally in their war against the Dark Kingdom. Nevertheless, the ill feelings of guilt and quiet reflection that had been brought to the surface in each of them made the end result still seem bitter sweet.

End of Chapter 2…


	4. A Different Side to Him

Chapter Three: A Different Side to Him

In times of stress, one the best coping methods Makoto Kino could think of to distract herself with was doing something she enjoyed. That meant cooking, gardening or being physically active in some way. It was early in the afternoon, which made it too early to be worrying about dinner and she was all caught up with watering and general maintenance of the plants in her apartment. Through the process of elimination, that made burning some excess energy at the local gym the only option left. She entered the Azabu-Juban recreation centre which was located in the Minato Ward of Tokyo and headed directly for the weight training room. She had been coming to this facility for years, so she knew where to go by heart and could probably find her way even if she was blindfolded.

She had always been physically active, even from an early age, and had been gifted with a greater level of physical strength then the majority of girls of her age. She was the strongest of the Sailor Soldier team but she still retained her femininity. She tried to exercise at least three times a week but, due to the escalating war between the Sailors and the Dark Kingdom, her routine had been repeatedly disrupted. She was now determined to correct that and get back into her usual routine.

As she changed into her fitness attire in the women's locker room Makoto found her thoughts drifting back to a couple nights before when she and her best friends had met their new ally, the alien-human hybrid known as Carnage. Even though he had saved her and two of her friends that same day from a Dark Kingdom monster she still found herself wondering if there was more to him that he hadn't told them yet. She sat down on the little bench in front of the locker she had chosen and quietly remembered the look he had given her when she had inquired about his choice in name. She could honestly admit that she sometimes struggled to be tactful in how she worded certain things. It was possible that her question could have come across as a personal attack. The look he had given her in response was not one of annoyance, anger, or even personal anguish. It had been a look of respect or maybe even admiration.

Before transferring to Azabu-Juban Middle School, Makoto had been the target of vicious rumours and gossip at her old school. Most of the bullying had been centred on her being usually tall for girls her age; standing at a towering 5'11" when the average size was around 5'4". She knew personally what it felt like to walk down the halls and see the numerous looks of fear and disdain being directed solely at her. As a result of her experience, she had developed a tough outer skin and became more withdrawn from her other classmates, which only added to her overall negative reputation. But it had also given her the ability to recognize certain emotions or virtues in people by listening to her internal instincts. They had helped her many times and saved her from several vicious pranks perpetrated by her classmates. The way Sean had looked at her, before he had answered her question, had made her feel at ease and had even softened her tough outer armour to a small degree.

She finished changing and locked her street clothes away in the locker, all the while thinking about Sean and the look he had given her. Upon leaving the locker room she approached the entrance to the fitness area. She pushed any thoughts of the past few days, the Dark Kingdom and Sean, out of her mind so she could focus completely on her workout.

She stepped inside the double doors and glanced around the exercise area as she planned out her routine. She also took mental note of how many people were in there with her. The recreation centre's weight room was modest in size and had approximately the same square footage as four classrooms put together. The cardiovascular machines were lined up into two long rows along the wall to her left. The central area of the room contained various strength-building machines. They were arranged in small groups according to the primary area they were designed to focus on. In the section that was the farthest away from her position was the area designated for the free weights and bars. There were a couple long racks of dumbbells of various weight increments and a couple of smaller vertical racks that displayed the different lifting bars or preset weighted barbells. There were also four benches: two flat, one incline, and one decline that were spread across the area.

As Makoto looked around the room, she saw a small crowd around one of the flat benches. It wasn't an uncommon sight to see a group of friends exercise together and encourage each other to push themselves to their individual limits. However, this particular crowd was considerably larger than what she had seen in her years of coming to this facility. She could see that the mass of people were made up of different age ranges. Her curiosity was peaked as she headed over to check what was going on.

_It's probably just another guy trying to be popular by challenging the biggest person in the room_, she thought as she approached the crowd.

She had also seen that a few times as well. It would usually be a young guy that was trying to impress his friends or a cute girl by taking on the strongest looking guy in the weight room. It almost always ended the same way. The challenger would often lose and even get embarrassed by how badly the other guy beat them. As she neared the site, she saw a familiar face and positioned herself beside him.

"Hey Andro, what is going on?"

"Oh, hey Makoto. One of the newbies is putting on a show for everyone."

"A show?" she asked with some surprise, turning to look at the person lying on the bench.

Just as she had thought, there was indeed a young man on the bench performing the bench press exercise. Not all that exciting when one considered where this was taking place, and the fact that he wasn't the first to perform this stunt. What was drawing the people's attention was the amount of weight he was lifting. On each side of the bar were four forty-five pound plates. Makoto did some quick math and calculated the total weight to be around 360 pounds. Andro leaned in and whispered to her as she stood in awe of the spectacle.

"He's been coming in almost every other day and pushes himself each time to his absolute limits. It's incredible to see that kind of dedication. I've never seen anyone lift that much that wasn't on a television program."

The young man was starting to show the first signs of fatigue as he began to gasp for air and his arms were mildly shook as he held the bar over his chest. Makoto started to move forward in an attempt to offer assistance when Andro put his hand on her upper arm.

"He prefers to do it all himself. He appreciates any offer of help and thanks anyone that does but he doesn't want any assistance and politely declines every time."

A few more minutes passed and the main attraction of the gym managed to complete another three repetitions before placing the heavy bar safely back on the rack. He sat up in a dynamic roll that utilized the downward momentum of his raised legs. Makoto was more than a little surprised to see that it was Sean. He looked up at the gathered crowd around him and immediately saw her among them. He caught her green eyes with his and smiled before standing up to wipe the sweat from his forehead with the yellow towel.

He politely made his way through the crowd, shaking a few hands and accepting the expressions of praise, before heading towards the leg press machine a few feet behind the mass of people. The crowd began to disburse and resume their own workout routines. Makoto, however, was still amazed at the feat she had witnessed. She followed him to the leg press machine.

"That was pretty impressive," she said as she approached him. She gestured her head in the direction of the bench behind her.

"Thanks. Next time I am going to try for 400 pounds," Sean replied nonchalantly as he set the appropriate weight on the machine and positioned his feet in the correct spots.

"So I hear that you are regular here. Is it just a coincidence or on purpose that this happens to be my gym as well?" Makoto asked with a little smile. Sean simply smiled back as he wiped some more sweat off his forehead.

"A little of both, I guess. I knew you came to this particular recreation centre but I also enjoy physically training my body."

Before she asked her next question, she looked around to make sure none of the other patrons of the gym were within earshot. She didn't want anyone to hear what she was about to say for fear that it might bring unwanted attention. When she was satisfied that all was clear, she turned back to him and leaned towards him in a gesture to alert anyone watching that what she was about to say was meant for their ears only.

"Does your partner help you when you exercise?"

Sean finished adjusting the seat of the machine and looked up at her. He did not respond right away and was seemingly mulling over her question. Makoto stood quietly as she awaited his reply and casually leaned against the side of the machine. After about a minute or so, he looked up at her and gave her another small smile.

"No, we have an agreement. It is true that enhanced strength is one of the many gifts my 'other' has given me but I want to feel like I am showing it the proper respect by not completely relying on it. I physically train my body so I can contribute my own strength to our collective union and keep my body healthy so I can be the best host for it. My 'friend' respects my desire and has agreed to not assist me during any of my workouts, unless absolutely necessary."

Another brief silence passed between them as she didn't know how to respond. She found herself respecting Sean more and more. She admired his commitment to the union with his alien partner, and the chosen path of protecting the planet. It reminded her of the level of dedication that her friend, Rei, had in her role as a Shinto temple maiden at the Hikawa Shrine. It was a rare thing to see, especially among her generation.

"I should probably let you get back to your workout. Just don't hurt yourself. We may need you later," she said with a cute smirk and a wink of her eye.

"We will see," he replied with an equal amount of friendly arrogance.

She turned and began to walk away. She glanced back after a few steps and watched as he set up the weight load on the leg press machine again after deciding that he could do a heavier amount. She turned her head back around and gave herself a little smile as her mind drifted back to the earlier thoughts of him.

Over the next few weeks, Sean became a frequent addition to the group's gatherings, both Sailor and non-Sailor related. In battle, he repeatedly proved to be a valuable addition to the team as his speed, agility, and morphing abilities allowed them to easily defeat monsters that normally would have been difficult. With each encounter, it seemed like Kunzite and Prince Endymion were visibly becoming more and more desperate as their usual calm demeanour and supreme confidence began to show signs of cracking with each failed plan. This was a positive sign to the Sailors and Carnage. It meant that they were finally making some serious headway in their war against the Dark Kingdom; yet, Sailor Mercury and Carnage were quick to point out that this could be the harbinger that marks the approach of a final confrontation. It was that disturbing realization that made Usagi and the other girls feel that they desperately needed to distract themselves with shopping sprees, hangouts, and movie nights or else they would go crazy with anxiety over what was coming.

It was certainly also a different experience for Usagi and the girls to have a male, other than Artemis, as part of their inner circle. One of their favourite things to do was playfully pick fights with one another and see if he would take sides in the topic of conflict. If or when he did the 'losing' girl or group would give him a 'dirty' look. This had more than once caused him to backpedal and become defensive as he suddenly found himself surrounded and outnumbered by a group of super-powered young ladies. It was adorable for the girls to watch this fearsome warrior stammer and tremble at the realization that he may have offended one or more of the opposite sex as most males did on a daily basis.

During their frequent shopping adventures Sean's male perspective added a refreshing component to their usually dominant female mixture. He had freely admitted to the girls that he had no sense of fashion or clothing, which was something that he and Ami shared. Whenever he was asked to offer an opinion on a piece of clothing or wardrobe accessory, the girls found his struggle to come up with a confident and appropriate answer was both amusing and endearing. Even during their random trip to the local Juban Land amusement park, he had been able to let loose and he thoroughly enjoyed himself as he rode Ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds with them. His ability to let his hair down, so to speak, and not be all business further impressed the girls and strengthened the blossoming friendship between them. Their initial impression of a dark and moody human creature had been successfully replaced by an image of a friendly, warm, and fun young man.

During one such outing, the girls and Sean had been out walking through the Azabu-Juban shopping district. The girls stopped in front of a bridal store and looked at the beautiful wedding dresses on display.

"Oh my…" Ami breathed as she leaned in to admire the beautiful stitching in the white lace.

"I can't wait for the day when I can wear a dress like this" Minako quietly cooed as she clasped her hands together.

Sean stood behind them and smiled. It was both nice and a little bit funny to see a group of young women fawn over a dress that was to be worn only once ideally. He quietly shook his head as he resolved that it must be a guy thing to not understand a female's tendency to take such delight in simple things such as fashion.

_Sean…. I hear a child crying and the smell of fear is becoming rampant, _a voice inside his head informed him.

_Where?, _Sean replied back, silently inside his head.

_A few blocks away…., _his symbiote answered back.

Sean refocused on the group of girls still in front of him. They were all still marvelling at the dresses in the window. He didn't want to ruin their fun just to help a lost child or comfort them if they had fallen and scraped their knee. Slowly backing up, he quietly slinked away and moved towards where the symbiote was indicating the child's distress was coming from.

Back at the bridal store, Usagi and the others were becoming more and more excited at the feelings that the display dresses were invoking in them. "Come on, we have to see what else is inside", Usagi beamed as she headed towards the front entrance.

"Yea!" Minako replied as she grabbed Ami's arm and dragged her after Usagi. Rei, despite her best efforts to appear immune to such trivial matters couldn't resist the feminine part of her that wanted to indulge her curiosity as to what other beautiful treasures the store contained within and thus followed the three girls inside. Makoto was the last one to move and as she took a few steps forward, she instinctively looked over her shoulder to see if Sean was coming in as well.

She immediately noticed that he wasn't there. She stopped and scanned the area to see if he had moved on to the next store front window but he was nowhere to be seen. From what she knew of him, he wasn't the type of person to just abandon them without some sort of explanation so there had to been another reason.

She closed her eyes and focused her hearing, looking for any signs of trouble such as sirens. As she channelled her senses, a strange feeling inside her welled up. It was something that she had never felt before and she couldn't begin to explain or describe it if someone ever asked her to.

The sensation seemed to flare up when the mental image of Sean appeared her head as she tried to remain focused on finding out where he had gone. When she moved her body to face west, another spike occurred. She didn't hesitate to try and explain it, she just started moving in that direction.

A few blocks away, Sean found the source of the disturbance that his symbiote had detected. A group of teenage boys were bullying a young pre-teen male. The young boy was carrying a homemade science craft that Sean was guessing was for a fair or class project.

"Hey nerd! Nice gizmo you got there" one of the older males sneered.

Before the young boy could reply, the leader of the pack smacked the device out of his hands and down to the ground. A second later, he followed it up by stomping his foot down on one side of it.

Sean didn't give him a chance to do it again. He ran forward and jumped high into the air. As he moved through the open space, he tucked himself into a front roll and managed to land in the small space between the young boy and the group of bullies.

"Time for you to leave NOW!" Sean said as he stood up and looked directly at the older males.

The teens sized Sean up. They could see that he was clearly bigger than them and that he was giving off a "don't mess with me"kind of vibe. However, the group of boys still had numbers on their side. The members behind the leader edged forward, moving closer to Sean.

"Don't even think about it" Sean calmly stated with an intimidating, icy tone. He stared directly at the leader, locking his steely blue eyes with the boy's brown ones. The tense staredown continued for a few more seconds. The fierce look in Sean's eyes never faulted but the teenager's did.

Slowly, the young man started to back away, as his sense of self-preservation silently screamed at him that this man was not someone to get involved with. He moved through the group of teenagers that made up his gang, never taking his eyes off of Sean until he was a safe distance away. At that point, he turned around and quickly moved away with the other males following close behind him, looking back at Sean with surprised and confused looks on their faces.

Once the gang was almost out of sight, Sean relaxed his body and turned to look at the young boy he had aided. He crouched down and picked up the remains of the homemade device with both of his hands. He looked at it for a second and then looked up at the young boy's face.

"Is this a perpetual motion machine" Sean asked with friendly enthusiasm. The boy smiled immediately and nodded his head. "That is so cool", Sean replied back with an elevated level of excitement.

The boy's smile grew wider as he looked at the man that had helped him out. Sean looked back down at the device and tilted his head as he looked at it from different angles. He reached around behind his back, out of the boy's line of sight. He mentally willed a few pieces of symbiotic tissue into his hands. Bringing his hand back around, he quickly used the pieces to put some of the device back together. The boy watched in amazement as his device was seemingly repaired after it had been cruelly destroyed right in front of him.

"There, that should hold it together for now. This sticky tac won't last for long but it should hold long enough until you get home and then you can properly repair it" Sean said as he reached out with one hand and warmly touched the boy's shoulder.

"Thank you Mister…"

"Sean. It's nice to meet you. Now, let's get you home. I will walk with you just in case those boys come back", Sean said as he stood back up and gave the device back to the boy. Moving together, they both started walking out of the alley.

A short distance away, Makoto watched the events from the open mouth of the alley. She had seen everything from the boy's encounter with the pack of bullies to Sean's intervention to the act of kindness he had done for the young man.

She had followed the internal sensation to the alley, not knowing what the feeling meant. She glanced up and saw Sean jump down from one of the rooftop lining the alley. He hadn't announced his presence or made any sound but yet she had still known where he had been. The alley was off 'the beaten path' so to speak, so she couldn't convince herself that it had been pure luck or even a coincidence that she had found Sean so quickly.

To further complicate things, when she had laid her green eyes on Sean, the new internal sense flared up. She remembered Usagi once telling her that Tuxedo Mask had theorized that he shared some sort of intuition or psychic link with Usagi that told him when she was in trouble. Could she have such a power and was it linked to Sean?

As Sean and the boy neared the other side of the alley, he felt a strong sensation that was different than when his symbiote sensed something. He turned to look over his shoulder and was more than a little surprised to see Makoto at the other end, watching him escort the boy safely home. Makoto saw him look back at her and lifted her hand to give him a smile and thumbs up. It was a sign that told him that she had seen everything and that she approved of his actions.

Not long after their encounter in the alley, Makoto had made several attempts whenever she could to be near Sean. She had even found herself going out of her way and sometimes dragging the other girls along with her to get a glimpse of him if they weren't already going to see him. This had been at first to test her theory about the possible psychic link she shared with him, which may have been a product of her sailor powers. Over time however, it grew beyond that and became a full blown crush, and she went the extra mile to do kind things for him.

She had started bringing extra food just for him if she knew ahead of time that he would be present. This had turned out to be fortunate for Usagi as well. She was more than willing to eat whatever Sean could not finish.

Makoto was not subtle with her signals of attraction and every single one of her friends could read her body language like a book. Her crush on him eventually reached the point where Usagi and Minako caught her daydreaming about him in her classes or at lunch. When they did successfully catch her in one of her glassy trances, they would often playful mock her. It was during one of those occasions (about three and a half weeks since their encounter at the gym) that Usagi decided to formally confront her friend about her crush.

"You totally like Sean! I can see it all over your face!" Usagi loudly squealed as her hand attempted to cover the huge smile spreading across her young face.

Makoto instinctively blushed as her somewhat embarrassing attraction became fully exposed. She tilted her head away from Usagi's beaming face and wrapped a strand of her long curly brown hair around her right index finger. Her cheeks brightly reddened as thoughts of him flashed again in her mind. She sheepishly glanced at the ground as she was unable to look at her friend in the eyes for fear that she might start laughing or perhaps lose the ability to speak.

"He is really dreamy, isn't he? He is a terrific guy and I feel so comfortable around him but…"

"But what…" Usagi asked. Her tone instantly switched from excitement and happiness to surprise and confusion at the change of tone in Makoto's voice.

"I'm not sure if he feels the same way about me. He treats me like a friend, a best friend even, and certainly much better than most of the guys I've been attracted to. He really doesn't care about my height or seem afraid because I am physically stronger than other girls. I love that he treats me like a normal girl but I honestly don't think he thinks of me as girlfriend material."

Usagi listened quietly as Makoto finished her sentence with a heavy sigh. She looked into her friend's bright green eyes and saw the hint of sadness that was present. She felt her longing for a real boyfriend and thought it would once again go unfilled. That gleam of sorrow struck something inside Usagi's incredibly large heart and she immediately came to realize what she had to do. Her bright blue eyes lit up as an idea began to form. She abruptly stood and balled her hands into tight fists.

She had recently lost the love of her life, Mamoru, to the Dark Kingdom but she still knew the absolute joys of finding true love. She wanted nothing more than for her friends to experience those wonderful experiences and it seemed that Makoto had a chance for that. She knew all too well how hard it had been for her to find a man to date, let alone start a relationship with. Most of the men she had encountered, like Crane Machine Joe, had rejected her simply because of her height, which was strange in an extreme conformist society such as Tokyo and Japan as a whole. If there was even the smallest chance that Sean was romantically attracted to Makoto, Usagi had to do everything in her power to make sure they did not miss this opportunity.

"I will find out Sean's true feelings for you. I will track him down where ever he is and get him to tell me the truth. Just leave it all to me!" Usagi proudly stated before immediately turning to race off before Makoto could utter any sort of protest.

She watched as her best friend's retreating image quickly disappeared down the street and then out of sight. She let a small sigh escape her lips as she began to wonder what exactly she was going to do. She had complete faith in Usagi for many things, but her love matching abilities were not among them. She shook her head and slowly opened and closed her hands as a growing sense of anxiety began to build inside her. All she could do was wait and see the results of Usagi's efforts and sincerely hope that they didn't backfire.

As Usagi would eventually find out, the task of actually finding Sean proved to be a much more difficult endeavour than she anticipated. She checked the recreation centre where Makoto mentioned he often frequented in his free time, as well as any other place that he had gone to with the group. She even tried places that probably did not have even the smallest chance of being correct, but no one could ever accuse her of not being thorough when she sent her mind to something. After several hours of fruitless searching, she was becoming increasingly frustrated and impatient.

She leaned against one of the many brick walls that lined the side streets of the Azabu-Juban district. She crossed her arms and looked at the ground. Her guardian cat, Luna, took position to quietly stare up at her.

"Grrrr… where is that man? I can't find him anywhere. I think this situation calls for desperate measures. It's time to use the homing beacon Ami-chan put inside his communicator!"

"Usagi! You promised the others that you wouldn't use any of the sailor tools for unimportant things anymore!"

"Luna! This _is_ important. Mako-chan has a chance of finding true love and I will not stand by and watch this opportunity slip through her fingers. It's time for Usagi to be the messenger of love and get those crazy lovebirds together." Usagi stood up straight and raised her right fist above her head to emphasize her declaration.

When Sean had been officially welcomed to the team, he was given a communication device designed and built by Ami. Besides the obvious purpose of alerting the other members about important information or enemy attacks it was also equipped with a powerful homing beacon. This was meant as a safety measure in the event that they were ever captured or could not otherwise communicate with the rest of the team. It was supposed to be used only in emergency situations when no other option was available.

Not stopping to think twice, Usagi reached into her back pocket and took out her communicator. She opened up the menu and selected Sean's name from the team list. Scrolling down the database of options associated with each sailor member she activated the beacon.

Luna sighed and dropped her head as she watched Usagi. She was well aware that it was pointless to try and stop her. She could only hope that this scenario would not backfire on her as badly as some of her other attempts. Her recent attempt at using the disguise pen to try and get Rei and one of the temple's helpers together came to mind.

Almost immediately a soft beeping became audible and a location slowly scrolled across the thin grey digital screen. Usagi smiled with happy satisfaction; but once the indicated location registered completely her enthusiasm quickly floundered. She realized that getting to that location would be even harder than locating him had been.

The homing beacon was telling her that Sean was west of the city on the shores of Lake Okutama. She had to figure out how she was going to get up there. She knew she couldn't ask her parents since there was no conceivable answer she could give that would convince them to drive her there. Even if they did, they would not leave her alone with Sean so they could privately talk.

Mamoru was still under the Dark Kingdom's thrall so that was out of the question. The only other person that she could think of was Motoki, who worked at the Crown Arcade Centre where Usagi and her friends frequently visited after school or whenever the urge struck. She hurried to the arcade, praying that he was working the afternoon shift. The higher powers smiled upon her as she burst through the sliding doors of the arcade's front entrance and was welcomed by Motoki's smiling face. He approached her with his hands inside his white apron.

"Hello Usagi. What is going on with you today?"

"Well… you see Motoki, my friend wants me to go on a nature walk with them up near Lake Okutama, but I have no way of getting up there. I know you are a really nice guy and I was really hoping that you could give me a lift."

"I don't know Usagi… it's a long drive to Lake Okutama. Maybe you should tell your friend that you can't make it this time."

"Awww… but I really want to go. Everyone keeps telling me that I spend too much time eating and watching television. Now, the one time I want to do something else, no one will support me!"

Her face quickly crinkled and the bottom of her eyes began to well up as her lower lip started to quiver and tremble. That was enough for Motoki, who had witnessed these displays from Usagi before and certainly didn't want a scene inside the arcade.

"Ok! Ok Usagi… I will take you. Just don't cry!"

The drive to the lake was reasonably quiet and uneventful, despite the method used to get it. It felt weird to Usagi that not that long ago, she had had a large crush on Motoki and would have done just about anything to be alone in his car or go on a date with him. It was something she had often daydreamed about in class or before bed as she stared at the starry night sky. Now her thoughts were centred on someone one else entirely, and even though she had been crushed when she had learned that Motoki was in a long term relationship, with a woman named Reika, she had been able to overcome that despair when she learned Mamoru Chiba was really her ally and other crush, Tuxedo Mask. It had only been a month since that revelation but it felt like a lifetime ago.

She had been forced to grow up and give up many of her childish dreams since she found out that she was the former princess of the Moon Kingdom, Princess Serenity. Their enemy, the Dark Kingdom, was now aware of that fact and of Mamoru's true identity as Prince Endymion. Luckily, they still hadn't discovered her civilian identity so she was still safe in that regard. However, she didn't care about any of that at the moment. Lately, her thoughts had been centred on finding Mamoru and getting him back from Queen Beryl and her minions. However, right now she was focused on helping Makoto and Sean realize the clear romantic link that they had.

They reached the specific area of Lake Okutama that Usagi directed Motoki to. Motoki pulled the car into a small parking lot located off the main road. It wasn't a very big area, as it only gave enough space to accommodate about seven vehicles at a time. The ground was tampered and covered with small white gravel stones that made a crunching sound as the car's tires moved over them. The lot itself was surrounded by four rows of tree stumps that were cut about four feet in height. There was a thick cargo rope running through each of the stumps and drooped slightly in the open space between. There were no other cars in the lot and no other signs that anyone else was there. Motoki looked around the area in confusion.

"I don't see your friend. Are you sure you this is the correct place?"

"Yes, this is the right spot. My friend is probably down by the lake." Usagi said with her trademark closed eyed smile. She exited the car and paused for a second after closing the door to look at her surroundings. She took in a deep breath of the fresh air and listened to the birds chirping in the trees. The peace and tranquility was so inviting and was a welcomed experience after all the darkness she and her friends had endured. She heard the crumpling sound of the car seat's fabric as Motoki shifted his weight behind her. She blinked her blue eyes a few times to refocus. She spun around and leaned her head down as she placed her hands on the tops of her knees so her face was level with Motoki's.

"Thank you for the ride Motoki. I owe you a big one!" Usagi said with sweet sincerity before bowing her head in thanks.

"It's no problem, but please, be careful up here." Motoki replied with a tone of concern that one would expect from an older brother.

"I will. Bye!" Usagi beamed as she stepped away from the car.

Usagi watched as Motoki backed out of the spot and proceed slowly out of the parking area. She continued to watch until he disappeared from sight down the tree lined dirt path that lead back to the main road. When she was truly alone, she pulled out her communication device. She turned the beacon back on, having switched it off during the ride so she wouldn't have to explain the soft beeping to Motoki. She was relieved when it told her that Sean was still at the lake and only about a hundred and fifty yards away from her.

She put the device back in her pant pocket as she looked towards the path that led towards the lake. She fought back the nervousness that raked her insides as she focused on what she was going to say to Sean.

She followed the rhythmic beeping of the device down the path and to the grassy hillside that overlooked the lake. The hill was steep in in both directions and was completely covered in long thin wild grass and flowers of various colours. There was a gentle breeze coming off the water that caused the tall green blades to sway back and forth. The sky above was a beautiful light blue with several white fluffy clouds moving slowly and silently across its wide open space. The lake sparkled as the warm sunshine hit it. It was a truly beautiful scene and she would have loved nothing more than to sit there and cuddle with Mamoru as they took in the natural beauty.

She was at the top of the hill and the glare of the sun was making the ability to see difficult. She put her hand over her eyes to block some of the brightness. She slowly scanned the hillside and spotted Sean sitting halfway down the hill to her right. She strode up to him and attempted to be as quiet as possible as she did so. She was about to announce herself when Sean spoke and caught her completely by surprise.

"I thought we were only supposed to use the homing beacon in times of emergencies?"

Usagi, busted and caught completely off guard, fumbled to quickly come up with a response. He had not moved his head or made any indication that he had heard her approach. It had to have been the alien living inside him that sensed her presence and informed him.

"Ummm… well… yea. I guess we are supposed to … but…"

Hearing her verbal struggle after being exposed, Sean turned his head and tilted his face to look up at her. His eyes narrowed as he squinted against the sun's rays. He gave her a small smile which eased some of the awkwardness she was feeling right. He gestured with his hand for her to sit on the grass beside him. Usagi slowly took a seat and made herself comfortable by tucking the lower part of her legs beneath her so they ran parallel to the upper part of her legs. Her blue pants rode up slightly making her white socks visible for all to see.

Even though she was in a peaceful setting, her mind was racing as she tried to find a way to recover from the unexpected turn of events and lead the conversation towards the point behind her journey. Her mind quickly became flooded with possible opening sentences, but again, Sean beat her to it.

"I love coming to spots like this. There is nothing like getting away from the noise and pollution of the major cities and the numerous stresses that daily living inflicts upon us. The peacefulness and placidity that places like this exude are important for people like us. They remind us of the natural beauty that this planet gives us and reinforces what we are fighting so hard to preserve."

He paused for a few seconds before speaking again. He turned his head from the lake to address Usagi directly. He stared at her, locking his dark blue eyes with her baby blue ones.

"I know why you are here."

Usagi was taken aback by his statement. Her mouth fell open and she blinked a few times as she quickly replayed what he had said to make sure she had heard him correctly. He continued to look at her and her sudden surge of surprise caused her to only muster a clumsy response.

"You … do …?"

"You are here to find out about how I feel about Makoto and whether I am romantically attracted to her or not. I have seen how she looks at me and how she acts whenever I am around. I am aware of your tendency to meddle in the affairs of the people you care the most about, whether it is the correct thing to do or not. I know that Makoto did not send you or, for that matter, even asked you to do anything of the sort."

He paused to let those last words hang in the air between them. Usagi felt more than a little embarrassed at being told just how transparent she was to the people around her. She couldn't change who she really was and she honestly hoped that no one would ever ask her to. She was happy with whom she was and that was all that mattered.

"I admire your loyalty to your friends and your unparalleled commitment to helping without any hesitation," he continued. "Your friends share those qualities with you whether they openly express them or not, and every single one of them is willing to do anything for you. It's that degree of friendship that you all share that will lead you to many great victories in this life that we have."

He looked towards the water and Usagi turned her head so she could look at the lake as well. Her mind was not on the breathtaking scene but was struggling with something that deeply troubled her about the tone that the conversation had taken. She stayed silent as she collected her thoughts before abruptly standing up. She placed her hands on her hips as a serious look became firmly etched across her young face. She waited for him to look back up at her before speaking. When he did, her words were filled with complete conviction.

"You're talking like you think we aren't your friends… like you aren't a member of this team. Well guess what … you _are_! You are an important part and someone that is very important to each of us. Don't try to avoid the real issue here, which is Makoto's feelings for you and yours for her."

Sean looked back up at her but didn't say anything. He quietly stared at her before looking back at the water. A few seconds passed before he calmly gestured for her to sit back down. Usagi maintained her rigid posture before finally softening and slowly sitting on the slanted grassy slope. She was unsure of what was going on and decided that she needed to wait for Sean to speak. She didn't like to be confrontational with any of her friends, and she desperately hoped that he was not hurt by her outburst. Sean inhaled a shallow breath beside her which noticeably relaxed him.

"I have been on my own for the past fourteen years. I have no close friends and no family to speak of. I have been traveling this planet from one end to the other for the last twelve of those years. As I am sure you can imagine I have met many people, both good and bad along my numerous journeys. Most of the human contact that I have had has been nothing more than short mutters of thanks or empty threats from enemies."

He turned his head and looked directly at Usagi to emphasis the statement he was about to make. She rolled her shoulders and dug her fingernails into the fabric of her pants in preparation for what she felt was going to be a very uncomfortable confession. The tone that the conversation had taken was not pleasant, but up until now, Sean hadn't talked much about his past even when prodded by her or their friends during social gatherings. She desperately wanted to know more about him as she felt it would make their friendship stronger and allow them to have a deeper understanding of each other.

"You and your friends are among the most extraordinary people I have ever encountered. The strength of your friendships and depth of your collective bravery is something to truly admire and respect. It humbles me that you all have welcomed me into your team and allowed me the privilege to fight by your side. Still, with all of my power and experience I have accumulated over my years of being on my own, I am afraid that I may have forgotten what it means to truly love another person."

He paused again and the look on his face seemed to suggest that a collage of painful memories were flashing across his mind as old wounds were reopened. Usagi reached out and took his hand to show him he had her support, if nothing else. Her bright blue eyes became filled with deep compassion and sympathy. When his eyes met hers, her gaze silently told him to keep opening up and that she wanted to help him exorcize the 'demons' he clearly had inside him. He looked down at her hand holding his and a surge of inner strength coursed through him. He lifted his head and looked back towards the lake to perhaps seek additional solace. After a few more moments of silence he resumed speaking.

"My father died when I was very young and the resulting grief caused my mother to become an alcoholic and drug user. She was never sober long enough to ensure the proper needs of living for us, and so my older sister and I learned quickly to take care of ourselves. My sister was once just like you: a happy, jubilant, and carefree girl. She always saw the beauty in everything and everyone. She loved life and lived each day to its absolute fullest potential. Even after our father's death, and Mom's descent into intoxication, she still maintained her positive outlook on life. Then, one day, my sister left with a friend to go on an adventure in Paris, France. I remember being concerned, just as any caring brother would be, but she never was one to miss an opportunity to have fun... especially after everything that had happened to us. I still remember helping her load her luggage into the car, hugging her goodbye and then watching the car disappear as it left the driveway."

He dropped his head slightly. He was unable to continue. Usagi tightly squeezed his hand to let him know that she was still there. He gently tightened his fingers around her hand to let her know that he appreciated her support. He took a deep breath and lifted his head.

"I never saw or heard from her again." He quietly whispered.

Usagi's face became one of utter shock as the weight of that tragic confession resonated deep within her. Her mouth slowly fell open and her eyes quickly welled up with tears.

"Oh Sean…" was all she could say.

She let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around him. After a couple minutes of quiet comforting, the gravity of the revelations still weighed heavy in the air around them. Sean's tragic past was starting to make her understand why he was so hesitant to let anyone get too close to him.

"I had recently found my 'partner' when she disappeared, but kept its existence a secret from her. The sudden loss of my sister after losing my father was too much for my mother to handle. She unfairly blamed me for not ensuring her safety and, in a way, I eventually believed her. Her numerous addictions became even worse and reached the point where she would turn violent in her emotional outbursts. I couldn't stand to be home any more. Not with so many ghosts haunting every room and my mother's constant reminders of how I had failed the family. I finally left and began to wander from town to town and do what I had to in order for me and my 'partner' to survive. I started helping people in any way I could, in the hopes that this could be my penance for failing to protect my sister. Eventually, I came across a young woman who I immediately recognized as the same friend my sister had been with when she left two years earlier. I learned from her that they had been lured and then kidnapped just outside the Paris airport. They were then placed into the sex trade and bought and sold like baseball cards to wealthy businessmen. The friend had luckily been found and rescued a few weeks earlier and sent home when she was cleared by the authorities. She told me that she had gone to my house as soon as she arrived back in town, but my mother was too overwhelmed by her grief and her addictions, and lashed out verbally at her, quite violently. She was wandering the town in her attempt to calm her nerves after that altercation when I came across her. I asked her about my sister's whereabouts and whether she was ok. She could only tell me that my sister had been separated from her and had disappeared into the endless trade and transferred among its vast number of clients."

Usagi couldn't believe what she was hearing, but she knew deep in her soul that everything he said was true. She could hear it in his voice and feel the emotion and pain. Sean tilted his head to look at the blue sky overhead and the white clouds silently and gently floating across it.

"I traveled the world after that. I looked for any clue, followed any lead, and tracked down every name I was given. As I searched I became involved in the planet's overall defense, as I could not deny another person's request for help. I owed it to my sister to make sure that the people of this world continued to live in peace and not experience the horrors she must have seen. I never stopped searching for her in all that time, but it's been twelve years since I first learned the truth about her. I know the odds and the harsh reality that she is probably dead, and that I will never find out who did it or where they left her. As incredibly difficult as that was, I have come to accept that and now devote my existence to helping as many people as I can in her memory."

He took another deep breath and let his last statement hang in the air around them. To Usagi, it seemed as if he was still trying to convince himself that he truly had come to accept that his sister was gone and that he would never know the truth. He turned his head and looked at her, his cobalt eyes awash with guilt and pain.

"Now I am afraid that I will fail the person who I allow myself to fall in love with, just as I did my sister. I do deeply care about Makoto and I know that, in this world, nothing is certain, no matter how hard we try to make it so. However, that uncertainty… it still paralyzes me. If something were to happen to her…"

He paused, again unable to finish the sentence. A single tear rolled down his cheek as the rest of the thought finished unheard inside his head. After a few seconds, he swallowed the lump in his throat before finishing the sentence out loud.

"I am not strong enough. I am just not strong enough to go through that pain again," He quietly whispered as he dropped his head and looked down at the tall grass in front of him.

Usagi hugged Sean tightly as the tears ran down her face. She leaned her head against his shoulder as she fought the urge to cry. They sat there in silence as the gentle breeze lightly blew the grass in all directions. The setting sun shined on the rolling waves of the lake, causing the water to sparkle. It was a beautiful and picturesque scene making the reality of what had just been revealed all the more painful.

As they continued to sit in silence, Usagi heard a soft beep from her back pocket. She reached inside and pulled out the communication device. Her eyes immediately widened as a small gasp escaped her lips. The communication device was on and broadcasting. It must have been tripped when she had originally sat down and its call button pressed when her body shifted on the elevated slope of the hill. But still, that wasn't the thing that Usagi was focused on. She was preoccupied with the realization that all of the other girls had been called and, more importantly, had heard the entire conversation between her and Sean.

End of Chapter 3…


	5. The Path Forward

Chapter Four: The Path Forward

It was an unusual and unsettling scene to behold for anyone who knew Usagi and her friends. The usual chipper and happy group were sitting together around the small rectangular table in the centre of Rei's room but missing was the typical gossip, the day-dreaming about being in love or being a famous celebrity. Instead there was a deathly silence and a level of unbearable and awkward tension that surrounded all of them. Not one of them was willing to bring up the topic that was currently dominating each of their minds.

An accident had occurred yesterday, a completely innocent one but nonetheless it happened. Usagi's communication device had been inadvertently switched on and the rest of the girls had heard the ensuing private conversation between Usagi and Sean. It was an intense chat that had revealed the details of his tragic life involving his childhood and family. He talked about the heart-breaking events that he had lived through and the following years of loneliness that he had experienced. Those events and the sorrow the girls felt for him were weighing heavily on the girls' gentle hearts.

Some of them had experienced tragedy on some level during their young lives. Usagi's boyfriend, Mamoru Chiba, had lost his parents at a very young age. Even though his parents had been wealthy and he inherited their fortune when he came of age it was clear to anyone that truly knew him that the emotional scars from that devastating event still affected him a great deal even after so many years.

Rei had lost her mother at a young age due to natural causes. Her father was still alive, but they didn't speak to each at all. Ami's parents were divorced but she rarely saw either of them as her mother was a busy doctor and her father was a travelling painter. The only contact she had with him since he had moved out was a single sketch or painting that he would send to her on her birthday every year. But no one had experienced the same level of emotional pain as Sean, with the exception of perhaps one, Makoto Kino.

Makoto had lost her parents at an early age just like Mamoru had. While his parents were killed in a tragic car accident, hers had perished in an airplane crash. She had been raised by relatives at first, but as soon as she was able she moved out on her own and took care of herself. She got what little financial support she could from her surviving family members, but also earned money by running her own 'special order bakery and house cleaning' business from her apartment. The income she earned from those endeavours, minus what she needed for her school responsibilities and, more recently, her Sailor obligations, was barely enough to keep her ahead of the monthly bills and rent. It had forced her to live very frugally, completely opposite to their friend, Mamoru who lived luxuriously. The sudden loss of her parents had also left some mental scars. Even today after so many years had passed the manner of her parents' deaths had caused her to develop a crippling fear of airplanes. That phobia had grown to the point where she would get anxious whenever an airplane flew overhead near her.

Today, Usagi's thoughts were centred on Sean and his initial reaction when she had told him about the communicator being on during their entire conversation. He had simply looked between her and the communicator before turning back to stare out at the lake with no visible expression. It was strange to her as she imagined most people would have been angry at having their privacy violated regardless if it was an accident or not. Other people may have been beyond embarrassed at having their private secrets publicly exposed to people that they had wanted to keep them hidden from. Sean's complete lack of emotion unsettled her. She had expected at least some kind of response. The blank stare he had given her was an image that had stayed with her and she continued to replay it over and over again in her mind ever since Sean had escorted her home from the lake after their conversation. All he had said about the incident was … _Friends shouldn't have secrets from each other_.

Usagi had been analyzing his cryptic response to find its true meaning ever since. It was one of the rare times that she had examined anything in such depth that wasn't directly related to Mamoru. She simply wasn't satisfied that his response could be just left at what he'd said. She was sure that there was something else hidden behind those words but for the life of her she couldn't figure it out. She had hoped that this get together with the others would allow her an opportunity to ask them about their own thoughts or start a discussion that could help her understand since her friends tended to be much more perceptive than her.

She also had another reason for gathering everyone together tonight. As leader of the Sailor team, one of her duties was to maintain the elements that kept the team strong and cohesive. She was concerned that this shocking revelation about their newest member would cause tension among the team or even lead to a split between them. Both of those scenarios would be disastrous in their current situation. From a tactical standpoint losing a teammate would put them at a disadvantage, but at the same time, having team members be distracted by personal feelings could also prove to be deadly. Even more important than that was that she did not want to lose Sean as a friend. She loved each of her friends more than anything in the world and would do whatever she could to protect them. She may not have known Sean as long as the others but she still valued his friendship on the same level as her best friends. She didn't want that friendship to end for any reason if it could be avoided.

It had become painfully clear that nothing was going to be accomplished that night so the girls quietly and politely excused themselves to head back to their individual houses. They had all come to realize that they each needed more time to process what had happened on their own before they would be able to discuss it openly with the rest of the group. Usagi, Ami and Minako went one way while Makoto went another. Their goodbye exchanges to her were subtle and not full of the usual flair which only added to the sombre atmosphere of the evening.

Makoto walked quietly along the mostly deserted streets. She put her hands inside her jacket pockets and tilted her head down to minimize her exposure to the gentle breeze that was blowing through the cool autumn night. As she slowly headed home, her thoughts remained solely on what they had been all day-Sean and what she could do for him. Just like Usagi, her mind had been in a constant loop as it recalled the vivid memory of yesterday afternoon when she had gotten the call from Usagi's communication device.

She had been at her apartment preparing her lunch for the next day. It was the middle of the afternoon, around three o'clock. It had been an exceptionally beautiful afternoon with the warm sunlight shining through the sheer fabric of her living room curtains.

Her communication device had gone off and its sharp beeping sound cut through the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of her apartment. She remembered quickly putting down the frying pan she had been holding and rushing to retrieve the device from her black school bag. Her sense of loyalty to her friends overrode the cold feeling of fear that stemmed from the thought of her best friends being in trouble and she internally prepared herself to move quickly once she found out what was going on.

The small pink-coloured device was equipped with a circular video screen in the top right corner that allowed the person receiving the call to see who was alerting them. When she picked up the gadget and pushed the button to accept the incoming transmission there had been nothing but a blank screen on the other end. The transmission did have audio and she could hear voices that were slightly muffled but still clear enough for her to follow the conversation with relative ease. She was listening to each word very intently just in case there was an attack or some other crisis going on that required her presence. The fact that she couldn't see the caller had only served to increase her sense of panic that something bad was going on.

As she had continued to listen she quickly came to realize that there was in fact no danger at all, but that it was merely a simple conversation between Usagi and Sean. She bit down on her lower lip as a means to try to control the feeling of embarrassment that had quickly filled her as she had immediately concluded that her blonde friend was making good on her vow to talk to Sean about her. It simply couldn't be a coincidence that they were talking so soon after she had left her to go and find him. Makoto had been hoping ever since Usagi had disappeared that Usagi wouldn`t be able to find him or that she would get distracted with something else during her search and forget about the whole thing. As the minutes went by it was becoming clear that their conversation was more or less going to be centred on her which only increased her feeling of self-consciousness. She almost turned the device off at that point and silently promised to speak with Usagi privately when she heard something that caught her complete attention.

"You are here to find out about how I feel about Makoto?"

Her eyes had popped open as her curiosity instantly flared up. She sat down on the side of her bed with the device still firmly in her hands and continued to quietly listen. As the conversation progressed her emotions entered into a mental roller coaster of highs and lows. Her green eyes had begun to tear up when she heard about him being almost completely alone for the past fourteen years. Her heart skipped a few beats when she learned that he too had lost his father due to tragedy and that his home life had been anything but perfect after that. She cracked a small smile and felt her spirits lift slightly when he had described his younger sister and her personality. It had been at that point that she felt her heart stop and throat close up as the next thing she heard registered with her.

"I never saw or heard from her again."

Of all the girls, only Usagi had any siblings. Their friendships with each other had developed into a kind of sisterhood. She truly believed that if she lost any of her friends for any reason the resulting pain that she would feel would be the same regardless of the absence of any blood relation.

She couldn't begin to understand how any person could go through all that Sean had and still retain any semblance of sanity or humanity. It was a testament to his strong spirit that he had come out the other end as well as he appeared to have had. As his friend she would offer any support that she could to help him deal with any of this. As the conversation continued on she desperately hoped that there wasn't anything else left to be said.

"I came across a young woman who I immediately recognized as the friend that my sister had been with when she had left on that day so long ago. She told me that she had gone to the house as soon as she arrived back in town, but my mother was too overwhelmed by her grief that she verbally lashed out at her. I also learned from her that they had been lured away and then kidnapped from the Paris airport where they were sold into the sex trade. I travelled the world after that, looking for any clue, following any lead and tracking down every name that I was given but I never found her. I know that she is probably dead by now and that I will never find out who did it or where they left her."

With those final words her heart had finally broken and the tears that had been welling up under her eyes streamed down her face. The small communication device slipped from her fingers and landed in her lap as she leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. Her mind struggled to process what it must have felt like for him. The frustration he must have endured over the years of endless searching. She couldn't imagine the kind of strength it took to be able to do that again and again. As this collection of various thoughts swirled through her mind she almost missed the very last thing Sean had said.

"I do care deeply for Mako-chan but if something were to happen to her … I am not strong enough … I am not strong enough to go through that again."

She had lifted her head out of her hands and looked down at the communication device that was still in her lap upon hearing that emotional confession. Her jade gaze went glassy and her mouth opened slightly to let a small gasp pass through it. She stared at the black video screen but was not able to utter a single word. All of the thoughts that had just been churning around inside her brain were suddenly gone with the exception of one.

"He cares about me … he cares about me!" That single statement repeated over and over in her mind as an endless loop. Each time it did her heart would beat in her chest like a caged bird. After several minutes her heart rate and breathing returned to normal as the weight of the sentence settled within her.

"Makoto?"

She snapped out of her memory recall and looked towards the voice that had just called out her name. Standing about seven feet ahead of her was Sean, the last person she would have expected to see, but also the one individual she desperately wanted to see as well. His hands were in his jacket pockets just like her but she knew that wasn't because of the cold night air. She was aware that his symbiote regulated his body so that he felt neither hot nor cold temperatures. He could be outside in Antarctica in just his red costume and comfortably live there for months. The look in his eyes that he was currently giving her seemed to be mostly filled with an expression of confusion and sadness.

"I am guessing that you were among the audience that heard my conversation with Usagi yesterday."

She could only manage to nod her head as she still felt ashamed to admit that she had. It had been an extremely private confession and one meant for Usagi only. It was obvious that he had not been ready to share that information with her or the other girls yet but now that it was out in the open they now had to deal with the gravity of it somehow.

Sean made no apparent reaction to her confirmation except only to continue to silently stare at her. The gaze in his eyes changed slightly as the colour in his blue eyes faded down a shade. Makoto could only guess that this was due to him having quietly hoped that she hadn't heard it and the resulting disappointment when she told him that she had. Perhaps he had come tonight to tell her himself in the event that she hadn't so that she wouldn't be left in the dark. If that was the case she now felt even worse about everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours. An awkward silence passed between them before Makoto finally spoke. "I am sorry about your sister."

She knew it was a generic and perhaps cliché statement but she honestly meant it. She silently wished that she could have said something more original or even supportive but she honestly couldn't think of anything else.

"Thank you … I didn't come here to talk about her, though." Another long pause stretched between them. The sound of the gentle wind rustled some leaves from the trees around them and from somewhere far away a ship's horn blared as it passed through Tokyo Bay.

"What did you come to talk about then?"

"Can we take a walk?" He asked her and subtlety gestured with his body in the direction behind them.

She hesitated for a few seconds before nodding her head slowly. She walked up to him and took a position beside him on his right side. She resisted the urge to reach out and either take his hand in hers or wrap her arm around his as she knew in her heart that it wasn't the time for such a bold gesture. All she could do was quietly listen and be supportive of him. They walked in silence through the deserted streets of the Minato Ward and down to the ocean shoreline. Her head was tilted slightly downwards and away from him so that she could look down at the ground in front of them. They came upon an empty park bench that was facing out towards the black water of Tokyo Bay. The clear night sky allowed the shining stars to reflect brightly off the water's calm surface, and the quiet atmosphere of their surrounding environment only seemed to increase their awe-inspiring magical visual. Any other night this would have seemed like the perfect spot for a young couple in love.

They both sat down but left a small gap of open space between them. Another awkward silence passed between them as neither of them knew how to start the conversation that they had come to have. Sean leaned forward and rested his elbows on the top of his thighs as his hands slid over his face to emphasize the uncomfortable atmosphere currently around them.

"I am not good at these things." Sean quietly sighed with a hint of frustration.

Makoto looked over at him with some surprise. She honestly hadn't been expecting that comment from him. In retrospect she really didn't know what she had been anticipating him to say. He remained silent after he spoke as if he was waiting for her to respond in some way. When she came to that conclusion he resumed speaking before she could muster a reply.

"It's been almost a decade and a half since I last allowed myself to feel love. I convinced myself that the ability to love someone in any capacity had disappeared along with my sister."

He paused before speaking again, squaring his shoulders as if he had decided something. Still not finding the comfort he was seeking, he leaned back against the back of the bench before rolling his shoulders and straightening his spine. He exhaled slowly, expelling the air from his lungs in an attempt to produce an internal sense of calm. When he felt he was ready he turned to look at her and locked his blue eyes with her emerald green eyes.

"When I saw you, I was immediately struck by your beauty, and then I was moved by your desire to help as you came to Usagi's defence when she was surrounded by those bullies. When it became time to awaken you as the Soldier of Jupiter, as you and Sailor Moon faced the monster Gesen, you charged head-on against it before you even knew about your powers. It was that fighting spirit, that internal power that you possess that stirred something inside me that I long thought had disappeared. I felt hope for the first time in a long while, longer than any human should ever have to experience. Then fate seemed to smile down on me as it finally made it possible for us to meet face to face and spend time together. That feeling of hope blossomed inside me after that but when it became clear that you had developed similar feelings for me that feeling of hope suddenly turned into fear."

Her eyes widened as his words resonated within her. Her heart began to beat rapidly as her mind raced with the possible outcomes that their conversation's direction could be taking. She was no stranger to men telling her that they were afraid of her either because of her height, her strength or her tendency to quickly jump into a relationship with both feet. Still, this time felt different than those past occurrences. The man sitting beside her was afraid but unlike the others he was afraid of hurting her and not themselves if they were publicly seen with her.

In response Makoto slid closer to him and took his hand in hers, ironically mirroring what Usagi had done the day before. She did not say anything but chose instead to wait for his eyes to meet hers again. When they finally did she spoke with a calm seriousness that let him know that she truly meant every word.

"You don't have to be afraid. I am a big girl and I know how to take care of myself."

"I know that and that is why I came out tonight in the hopes that I would find you at Rei's."

He paused yet again and just like before he seemed to be collecting his thoughts and the strength within him.

"I want to be your boyfriend. I want to be with you and most importantly I want to love you with all my heart."

Her heart skipped a few beats again. Her cheeks became a bright red as his last sentence echoed in her head and caused her face to blush. She had been dreaming of this moment for weeks wishing with everything inside her for it to happen and now that it was, she found herself not knowing how to react. She could only make small whispering sounds from her mouth as she struggled to find the right words.

Sean placed his free hand on the side of her head stroking her bare skin tenderly. At the touch of his hand to her skin she almost melted right there on the bench. The physical sensation sent sparks of electricity running across her body and caused her skin to goose bump in certain places. She had seen this gesture occur enough times in movies to know what was coming. Her heart continued to race and her eyes became glassier as they slowly closed.

He leaned in and gently pressed his lips against hers. The kiss sent another surge of electricity through her body but this one was considerably stronger than the first one. As the embrace continued it became more deep and passionate as the release of pent up emotions that had been building between them over the past few weeks were unleashed.

After what felt like minutes Sean broke the kiss and leaned back against the bench. Makoto slowly opened her eyes as he pulled away, the memory of his lips against hers still making her own tingle. Her mind was completely blank as she allowed herself to enjoy the feeling of the kiss to course through her body unhindered.

She noticed that he was looking at her. From the look in his eyes she could see that he was waiting for some sort of response from her about what had just happened. She returned his gaze and gave him a small smile to silently confirm to him that she indeed wanted to be with him as well. She leaned in closer to him, lightly resting her upper body against his. He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. She rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her and stroked her curly brown hair with his index finger. They both sat there in silence and enjoyed the comfort that now existed between them. No other words needed to be spoken as they could feel each other's emotions more deeper than other couples they would imagine.

Despite the noticeably colder breeze that was coming off the water neither of them seemed to notice it as they continued to look at the calm seawater in front of them. Their thoughts seemed completely focused on the bay and the larger ocean beyond. To Sean and Makoto, Tokyo Bay represented the vast sea of possibilities that was now laid out before them, both literally and figuratively.

End of Chapter 4 …

8


	6. Teams, training and trust

Chapter Five: Teams, Training and Trust

It was now the time to focus on what was really important. For the Sailor team that meant two things. The first was getting Mamoru back from Queen Beryl, and the second was putting an end to the Dark Kingdom's threat against the people of Earth. These were not going to be easy tasks to fulfill and everyone was very much aware of that. Up until now they had been primarily functioning as a reactive squad in engaging the Dark Kingdom's minions only when they began an attack or when they discovered one of their various operations already in progress.

They were at the stage where they needed to switch to a proactive strategy if they were going to make any headway against the Dark Kingdom and stop them completely; to that end Ami and Sean had been appointed as the team's chief battle strategists. It was a relatively easy decision for the group to make and one of the rare times they had all agreed on something quickly. The basis for the nominations was simple. Ami was chosen because of her obvious book smarts while Sean was selected as a result of his many years of battle and black operations experience.

Sean and Ami's first task in their new roles was to create was what Sean tentatively called strike teams. These would be how the group would respond in the event that the Dark Kingdom or another enemy launched a series of multiple attacks at the same time. This could become a reality especially in the near future as their feud with the Dark Kingdom continued.

Sean had designed the two teams based on observations he had made during their various battles. He'd paid attention to how their individual powers or attacks could be combined together to increase their offensive capabilities and give them a stronger tactical advantage to make up for the absence of the other sailors. The first team consisted of Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury. Their attacks had been proven to work well together and create a fiery disc with an orbiting bubble shield. The second team would consist of the rest: Sailor Venus, Sailor Jupiter and Carnage. Their ultimate attack was an electrified symbiotic laser beam, whereby Carnage would empower Sailor Venus' hand with his 'other's' strength by attaching himself to her as she fired her Crescent Beam. At the same time, Sailor Jupiter would shoot out a lightning bolt that would merge with the ray of light as it travelled towards its target.

The next tactic that Sean and Ami had developed was the creation of specific code words for these combination attacks. They were explaining that these were necessary to alert the other team members while at the same time not warning their opponent. This would lessen the chances of their enemy being able to dodge or block their attack, if it had the capacity to do so. The code word they had come up with for Moon, Mars and Mercury's attack would be Flat Raven while Red Storm was the signal for the other team.

"Don't you think we need to make the names somewhat clearer? I am pretty sure that some of us won't remember what those words mean when it counts.", Rei asked.

"And what do you mean by that, Rei?", Usagi asked somewhat defensively.

"I am sure that even you can figure that out Usagi.", Rei responded.

"Ladies!" With one word Sean regained their attention. "You should never give your enemy any indication of what your next move is going to be. A mistake like that could allow them to counter it and put you in a very dangerous position or end the battle altogether with your death. These attack names are vague enough that you all will understand them but your opponent will not."

"Now, are there any concerns or questions about each squad's line-ups?"

There could be one possible problem with the new team dynamics. Sean had been well aware that when he and Ami designed the team rosters that there might be some questions as to why he didn't put himself and Sailor Jupiter up on different squads. He watched each of the girls and studied their facial expressions as they pondered his question about whether or not they were truly comfortable with them.

"How come you put Mako-chan on the same team as you? Wouldn't your relationship distract you in the heat of battle?" Minako inquired, being the first to speak out.

"An excellent question, Minako and one that Ami and I were anticipating. Does anyone else have any reservations about that?" Sean replied, looking over at Ami first and then back to the group.

"I am just thinking about how Usagi becomes unfocused when Tuxedo Mask shows up or is injured. I am not saying that you and Mako-chan will do the same but the possibility still exists." Rei added, taking the opportunity to voice her opinion.

"That is a very valid point, Rei. Let me suggest this then; what if I leave myself as a wild card member of sorts? I could go between either team depending on the situation. Would that be a suitable solution?" Sean let the group consider his proposal, remaining silent after he finished speaking.

"Yes I could live with that." Rei replied, not waiting for the others to speak. Minako, Makoto and Ami remained silent but nodded their heads to indicate that they accepted that strategy as well.

"Excellent. The next step is that we need to make each of you better warriors. The monsters that we have faced in the past will be nothing compared to what you will encounter when we finally lay siege to the Dark Kingdom's fortress. I cannot in good conscience let you go into battle until I personally feel that you are ready." Sean stiffened his body's posture as he spoke.

"But we are ready. Together we are strong enough to kick Kunzite and the rest of those dirt bags." Makoto countered, taking a step forward and raising her fist up in front of her. Her voice was filled with determination.

"Mako-chan, don't you remember what happened shortly after the battle at the Starlight Tower? None of us were able to even scratch Kunzite with our abilities and he is just one of our enemies. We need to be careful and not underestimate the Dark Kingdom." Ami quietly said as she looked over at her good friend.

"I agree with Ami-chan. You all are not ready. Even if you knew the location of the Dark Kingdom and proceeded to conduct a direct assault on their base all of you would be captured or worse in less than five minutes in your current states." Sean added, supporting Ami's point.

The girls shifted their bodies from side to side as they attempted to steady themselves. They looked among themselves after he had finishing speaking and each of them had a worried look on their face. They knew that Sean had the battle experience to back up what he was talking about as he had been in numerous battles for most of their young lives.

"So what do you propose we do to make us strong enough to take on the Dark Kingdom?" Ami inquired.

"I want to train all of you so that you can read your opponent's movements, counter any attacks and use your abilities to their full potential. It has to be all of you or this training will mean nothing. I will not be holding back and this exercise will be very intense, but at the end all of you will be stronger because of it."

"I'm in." Makoto piped up.

"Me too." Minako replied, taking a position beside Makoto.

"The sooner we take down the Dark Kingdom the sooner I can get back to my studies." Ami quietly said, looking determined and serious as she usually did.

"Oh … Ami-chan." Usagi sighed as she tried once again to comprehend her friend's obsession with homework and studying.

Sean looked out at his charges, making eye contact with each of them in turn, as each Sailor nodded their acceptance to him.

"Ok then. Let us all meet at the shore of Lake Okutama in two days, near the spot where Usagi and I had our conversation."

Forty-eight hours later the girls were gathered at the base of the staircase outside the Hikawa Shrine. They had all agreed to meet Sean here in the mid-morning so they could go to Lake Okutama together.

They had been waiting about twenty minutes when Ami finally spoke.

"I wonder what's keeping him. I hope that something bad didn't happen."

The other girls looked over at her as she spoke. It was clear from the looks on their faces that they had been wondering the same thing. It wasn't like Sean to be late. They weren't worried that he couldn't handle whatever trouble had found him; they were concerned that it was taking him so long to contact them about whatever was holding him up.

Minako pulled out her communicator and was about to attempt to contact him when a black limousine appeared from down the street and pulled to a stop beside them. A few seconds later a man in his early forties stepped out of the driver's seat and turned to them.

"Miss Tsukino and friends, I presume?"

Usagi stared at the man, dumbfounded. She couldn't believe what was happening. Rei and Makoto shared her expression while Minako couldn't break her gaze from the long shiny black vehicle. Ami glanced at her friends and quickly piped up with some embarrassment in her voice.

"That is correct, sir. I think there must be some mistake, we are actually waiting for our friend to arrive."

"A Mister Sean Carthage? He has arranged for this limousine to take you all to Lake Okutama."

Ami hid a small smirk at their friend's clever disguise of his name. He clearly meant it to be an inside joke for her as she was the only one that would get the reference through her studies of ancient history. The man walked around the length of the car and opened the back door. He waited patiently behind the door as he looked back at the small collection of young ladies. They were still having trouble understanding what was currently going on.

"We have a long drive ahead of us, so if you would please…"

Slowly, one by one, Ami, Rei and the rest of the girls piled into the surprisingly spacious luxury vehicle. Usagi was the last one to get inside. As soon as her legs were safely inside the driver closed the door with a moderate push and audible thud. Less than a minute later the driver was back in his seat and starting up the engine. He eased back out into the road and began to head westward through the busy city streets.

For the girls this was their first time in such a fancy car. They were in complete awe at the feeling of being in such a symbol of fame and power. Each of them had their own individual dreams of making it big in the world. Rei and Minako wanted to be famous celebrity singing idols. Ami's goal was to become a successful doctor, which was a highly regarded career in the Japanese culture. And Makoto's fantasy was to open her own successful flower and cake shop somewhere in the Juban district. She was already a phenomenal cook/chef and she liked the idea of mixing food and flowers together since both were proven to bring people happiness, which was something she enjoyed doing.

Usagi was the only one of them whose future was already laid out for her. When she had learned that she was the guardian of the Imperium Silver Crystal and the princess of the ancient Moon Kingdom several weeks ago, she had also inherited the responsibilities that came along with them. It was her destiny to destroy the Dark Kingdom and then lead the people of Earth into a new era of long lasting peace. These were seemingly impossible tasks for a fourteen-year-old girl to comprehend, let alone accomplish and, at first, she had resisted the burden that they placed upon her. She was beginning to slowly settle into her new role now and would eventually mature into the leader that she was destined to become.

As the car continued along the highway towards their lakeside destination the group of best friends took to their surroundings and allowed themselves to get lost in the thrill of being inside a limousine and pretending to live like famous celebrities. Minako produced the camera from her purse that she always carried around with her in case she happened to meet a famous superstar. They began to take pictures of each other, including some of the classic posed situations like standing up through the sun roof. As usual there were also the typical Usagi pictures of her tripping and falling face first onto the floor of the vehicle or her various silly facial expressions. This was definitely one of those experiences that you wanted to share with your closest friends.

Just over two hours later the car came to a stop at the side of the road beside the entrance to the parking lot inside the forested area. The long limousine was not designed to travel down a narrow unpaved path and there was no place within for it to safely turn around to leave once it had dropped off its passengers. The girls would have to be let out here and walk the rest of the way until they found Sean.

The driver got out and briskly walked around the car before opening the door for them. One by one the girls stepped out of the vehicle. Mina took the opportunity to practice her 'exit' for when she became a celebrity idol in the future. She stepped out and flicked her long blonde hair back behind her shoulders. She pretended to blow kisses to the imagery crowds awaiting her and even stopped a few times to pose for the invisible cameramen that were covering the 'grand event'.

The other girls rolled their eyes as they stood behind her and watched their friend play up the moment. When she was finally finished they all turned in unison and politely thanked the driver.

"Thank you for the amazing ride."

"We hope the rest of your day is just as good."

The driver smiled and silently bowed in thanks for their civility. They stood quietly on the shoulder of the road and watched as he got back into the car and pulled away as he began the journey back to the city. Once the car was out of sight they turned around and began to walk down the dirt road that cut through the thick forested area that surrounded Lake Okutama.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, they reached the small parking lot that Motoki had dropped Usagi off in about a week earlier. The path had been winding and included some tight turns and some elevations that the limousine would not have been able to make or would have run the significant risk of being damaged if it had attempted to. When they reached the centre of the lot the girls stopped and turned to look over at Usagi. In response to the feeling of their collective gaze upon her she turned to look at them before giving them a confused look.

"What? Why are you all looking at me? Do I have something on my face?"

Rei sighed as she pressed her fingers hard against her forehead. There was a crystal clear tone of frustration in her voice when she spoke.

"We need you to lead us to the spot where Sean will be, remember?"

"Oh yea, I forgot." Usagi said with a laugh as she placed one of her hands on the back of her head in embarrassment.

She composed herself and began to walk towards the small trail that lead away from the parking lot and deeper into the woods around it. This was the same route that she had taken when she came here about a week ago. The other girls began to follow behind her but kept their guards up just in case something occurred. Sean had given them no indication as to what to expect when they arrived at this location for the intense training, still they wouldn't put it past him to try and ambush them just to prove a point.

After a few more minutes of walking among the thick beech wood, Japanese maple trees and cherry blossoms the forest began to clear and reveal the bright shining lake that was sparkling in the late morning sunshine.

"There's the lake." Usagi exclaimed before taking off into a dash.

"Usagi! Wait for us." Ami called after her.

The girls took off after her as they tried to catch up with her. Usagi exited the forest and abruptly stopped. The others came to a stop around her and also took in the stunning scene laid out before them. The crystal blue water radiated outwards with the sunlight reflecting off it. The long wild grass and flowers all around them swayed slightly in the gentle breeze that came off the vast body of water. The baby blue sky above them was almost completely clear with very little clouds in sight. It was a truly beautiful sight to behold and one that was one of the hidden treasures of the Okutama community that was free of the visuals of the civilized world.

"It's so romantic." Rei whispered out loud.

"I need to bring my future boyfriend here." Minako added with a tone of complete awe in her voice.

"We should find Sean and begin our training." Ami announced to cut through the silence as the other girls continued to daydream.

"Ami!" The girls all wailed as their individual romantic thoughts abruptly vanished from their minds.

They resumed their walking along the lake's edge and looked for either a clear sign of where they should go or their friend. They eventually found him on a natural flat plateau that overlooked the water. The location as it turned out was only a short distance away from the path that they had exited the forest from. As they walked up to him he gave them a smile that eased some of the nervous tension they were all feeling as they still did not know what was going to be happening shortly.

"Welcome my friends. I trust the ride up here was enjoyable for you." He said with a warmness that further eased the anxiety felt by them.

"How did you manage to get a limousine to take us here?" Rei curiously asked.

"Oh… it was no trouble really. Ordering a limousine isn't that difficult." Sean casually replied with a smile.

"But aren't they expensive" Minako asked. The others looked over at her before looking back at Sean. As a former idol and celebrity chaser, Minako was the resident expert on the ins and outs of being a famous person, including the sometimes rich expenses that people in this life status would indulge in.

"Well they can be, but I have money set aside for these kinds of things", Sean somewhat sheepishly answered back.

"Where do you get your money, we've never heard you talk about your job?" Ami looked at him with her dark blue eyes with a questioning look in them. The others matched her gaze as they realized that Ami was once again correct in her statement. The entire time that they have known him, Sean had not once mentioned any sort of profession that would give him any form of monetary income. Sean was silent for about a minute before he spoke again. The expression on his face told each of the girls that he wasn't comfortable talking about this aspect of his past but was still going to for their benefit.

"As you know, I have been defending this world from various threats for over seven years now. I will admit that over the course of several of those missions, I've been able to collect some of the spoils, if you will, that were acquired by the villians that I have encountered so that I have something to live on.

"So you have taken money gained from the suffering of others?" Makoto asked. Her distaste for that idea was clear in her voice.

"That is not entirely correct, Mako-chan. I have only taken what I needed to survive, plus a little extra in order to complete either my current mission or a possible future one. Those extras might mean needing to buy information from informants or other unexpected expenses that might come up in the course of achieving my goal." Sean looked solely at her as he talked, mirroring the exchange they had had at the Hikawa Shrine when they all formally met for the first time.

"And what about the rest of the money"? Rei asked, breaking the stare-down between Sean and Makoto.

"Everything that I don't need goes to charity or is given anonymously to any surviving victims or family members that were affected as a result of the people who took the money.

The girls were silent as they each thought about that. It bothered them a little that Sean had taken what they considered 'blood money' for his own personal use. They could tell by the look in his eyes that what had he had said about the charity donations was true. This made them feel a little bit better as it meant that the money had actually been used to help other people.

Sean quietly let them mull over that for about a minute. It was not something he was particularly proud of and he honestly couldn't blame them for feeling the way they did about it. But he couldn't very well hold down a job and still be ready at a moment's notice to battle against an enemy that threatened the people of Earth. It was necessary for him to find other means to financially support himself.

When he saw that the girls were pulling themselves out of their quiet reflections he cleared his throat and loudly clapped his hands together to get their attention.

"Now then … our training will mostly consist of you all sparing one-on-one or in groups in various simulated combat situations. These scenarios are meant to make you more competent in future battles and build your confidence so that you don't become distracted by your own personal fears or nervousness. Let me emphasize the rules of these exercises. You will use a non-lethal power level in all your attacks at all times unless otherwise directed by me. If during any of your matches you have an opportunity to take your opponent out, you take it. You will not be holding back at all as our enemies will not give you that gift. You will learn how to dodge your opponent's attacks while at the same time practice at anticipating their next move. That is one of the main points of these deep training sessions, to get you to interpret, predict and then counter your opponent's assaults."

"Uhhhh Sean …, I am not sure I like this. I really don't want to get hit and have my pretty face be all bruised when we save Mamoru. Can't we just shoot cans off a fence or run around the lake?" Usagi whined.

"On what planet do you consider yourself prettier than me?" Rei sternly asked as she stepped right up to face Usagi eye to eye.

"My smile, for starters …" Usagi said with a cheerful smile. Her expression showed everyone that she truly believed what she had just said.

"Ahem."

Usagi and Rei stopped their argument and turned around to look back at Sean. The other girls stood a short distance away after putting some distance between them and the two bickering friends. Their heads had been turned downwards as they each wore a look of embarrassment on their faces. It had become a common theme between those two to have petty disagreements but the others had hoped that they had enough sense to table such child-ish behaviour when there were more important things to focus on. They raised their heads at Sean's interruption and looked back towards him as well. When all of them were again focused on him, he addressed Usagi's initial compliant first.

"Your enemies are not going to stand still and let you just attack them willingly, and running away will almost certainly get you killed."

At the end of his response Rei glared over at Usagi with a firm look on her face and her arms tightly crossed over her chest. There was no doubt that she truly cared about Usagi even though it could be missed by their frequent squabbles. Her lack of courage and fighting skill were something that continuously bothered her. If any one of them was going to benefit from these intense training sessions she hoped it was going to be Usagi. Sean continued to talk and maintained his stare-down with Usagi as he spoke.

"If we want to get Mamoru back we have to destroy the Dark Kingdom once and for all. To do that we need to be ready to fight and stand your ground to the very end."

Usagi swallowed and her eyes filled with a clear mixture of nervousness and fear. Her hands jumped to the lower half of her face in an unconscious reflex action as his words registered with her. The mere mention of Mamoru had touched something deep inside her as she desperately wanted to get him back and free him of the brain-washing that their enemies had done to him. She knew that in order to do that she had to become stronger and thus become a better sailor warrior and leader. It was no secret that she was considered the weak link of the team-something that even Kunzite had openly admitted to being aware of.

She nodded slowly and took her hands away from her face. She stood up straighter and readied herself by tensing her muscles. Sean broke his gaze with her and turned his body to address all of them again.

"Now … the first thing that I want you all to do is transform and then surround me. You are going to attack me one at time or altogether if you want. I will use light force against you but I _will_ defend myself. The goal is to for you to either capture or render me incapable of further battle before I do that same to you. Any questions?"

None of the girls spoke up but they all shared a similar look of concern. This would be the first time they used their powers against one of their own on purpose. It was definitely something that none of them were comfortable with at all even if it was only a practice exercise.

"Ok … go ahead and transform now."

The girls gave one last look at each other as they reluctantly pulled out their transformation pens and proceeded to transform.

"Mercury Power Make-Up."

"Mars Power Make-Up."

"Jupiter Power Make-Up."

"Venus Power Make-Up."

"Moon Prism Power Make-Up."A shower of lights and bright flashes followed and within the span of only a few seconds the girls completed each of their changes and took up positions around Sean as he had instructed them to. Sean glanced around at the sailors and took mental note of each of their spots. Without saying a word he outstretched his arms to the sides as the red free flowing skin abruptly appeared from the edges of his clothing and moved to completely cover him from head to toe in less than seven seconds, turning him into Carnage.

His transformation was similar in method to Sailor Moon's. The red and black organic material that made up his symbiote wrapped around Sean's body after first breaking it's disguise as his civilian clothing, in much the same manner as how the pink energy ribbons appear out of the Usagi's brooch when she transforms.

As his change neared completion, the fingers on his left hand elongated out into two-and-a-half-foot-long sharp claws while the other arm morphed into a large curved scoop. Four long thin tendrils abruptly appeared on the outside of his arms and legs. They waved back and forth in the air like cobras as they waited for a target to materialize. Carnage bent his knees and moved his scoop-like hand close to his body to act like a shield while his clawed hand was out to the side and raised slightly above his shoulder. His large white pupil-less eyes were unmoving which made it impossible for the sailors facing him to see where he was looking. The area around them became deathly quiet which almost made the thoughts of each of the sailors audible to everyone else. The seconds of tense silence continued to tick by as both sides waited on the other to make the first move.

Sailor Mercury finally broke the standoff by unleashing her shabon spray upon the area. In less than five seconds the entire battleground and the surrounding outer perimeter quickly became surrounded in a thick mist that blocked the sunshine above them and made visibility next to impossible at ground level. The ambient temperature around them dropped considerably and made it feel like a freezing winter night.

Almost instantly after the mist settled around them Sailor Venus shot her Crescent Beam directly at Carnage. Her aim was perfect but the brightest of the beam lit up the surrounding fog as it passed through it which gave Carnage a clear warning that it was coming. He gracefully ducked under the beam and let it pass harmlessly overhead before springing forward. He sailed through the mist and tackled Sailor Venus to the ground. He instantly formed red shackles on her wrists and ankles from the alien tissue on his hands and lower legs which pinned her firmly to the ground before she could muster any sort of physical reaction. A couple seconds later he jumped off her and disappeared back into the thick fog.

Somewhere nearby Sailor Moon stood all by herself. She was beyond nervous as she feverishly looked all around her for any sign as to where Carnage or the others were. She had heard Sailor Venus' yell come from somewhere close by. It was then followed by the sounds of her struggling against some unseen force.

"He got me guys. Be on guard."

Sailor Moon nervously swallowed as Sailor Venus' warning registered with her. She sincerely hoped that the others were still out there as she was sure that she couldn't take out Carnage without help. She stood frozen in place as she was afraid to move. She was terrified that she would bump into him without any warning or walk into the middle of a cross fire between the others and him.

A branch broke from someplace behind her and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She couldn't stop herself from shrieking out in fright as she physically leaped upwards. She knew that she had almost certainly just given away her position to Carnage but there was nothing she could have done to prevent it. She was not as brave as the others but that was just who she was. She was determined to become better so that she could rescue Mamoru and have him by her side again.

She pushed her fear out of her mind and put her senses on ultimate alert as she listened for any clue that would let her know where Carnage was or what was going on around her. She did not move and as the seconds passed by her body began to physically tremble as she the terror inside her crept back up. She clasped her hands tightly together in a prayer-like fashion as she pleaded with any divine entity that she could think of to help her and her friends.

A flash of bright orange light zipped across her line of vision which she took as the signal that Sailor Mars was currently attacking something. At least that is what she hoped was happening since she couldn't see her friend or what was occurring because of Sailor Mercury's bubble mist. She nervously took a small step forward in the direction of the fiery-red light as her courage began to build a little. If she could join up with Sailor Mars they would have a better chance of ending this training exercise, she quietly thought to herself. She took another step forward as her eyes continued to flick back and forth as she scanned the area directly in front of her. She was looking for any signs of movement that would give her an indication of where she needed to go or how to react with whatever was currently going on. A quick glimmer of red caught her attention and the feeling of hope inside her surged. It had to be Sailor Mars she told herself as her eyes widened with her trademark optimism.

"Sailor Mars!" She excitedly called out. The tone of relief was clear in her voice.

Suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere she felt a large clawed hand grab her around her neck and easily lift her off the ground. She realized that it had been Carnage and not her teammate that she had just seen and her verbal outburst had betrayed her position to him allowing him to know where she was.

Without saying a word long thin strands of organic material abruptly erupted from various points along Carnage's body. In short order he wrapped her up from her shoulders to the bottom of her red boots with the red living tissue. He finished off the cocoon by adding a separate strand of symbiotic matter to cover her mouth so that she could not voice a warning to the remaining sailors like Sailor Venus had. He then dropped her to the ground and was gone before she had fully landed.

A short distance away Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury were standing back to back in a desperate attempt to prevent any sort of sneak attack from Carnage. Sailor Mars had her hands up at the ready as she waited for a target to launch her fire soul attack at. She had fired at a shadow that she thought was Carnage a few minutes ago but it had turned out to be really Sailor Mercury looking for the others. Luckily the blue haired warrior had seen the fire attack coming and been able to quickly duck and roll out of the way as it passed over her.

Sailor Mercury had her VR visor on and her small supercomputer in her hands as she rapidly typed various commands into it. She was using the numerous technological instruments in both devices to search through the unnatural fog to try and pinpoint Carnage's location. The area around them was too quiet and her instruments had not yet found their opponent even after she had inputted all the data it would need to find his signature. The frustration inside her was building up as she hated not knowing where he was. The anticipation of his impending attack was weighing on her usual calm demeanour and making her more antsy than normal. As her eyes remained completely focused on the micro-computer she felt something wrap tightly around her ankles. She managed a quick glance down at them and saw a pair of red tendrils ensnaring them. Another thick tendril appeared around her chest, pinning her arms tightly against her sides. Sailor Mercury barely had time to register what had just happened let alone voice a warning out to Sailor Mars because in a split-second, the organic coils yanked hard sideways, causing her to lose her balance and fall backwards. She dropped down onto her back with a painful thud before being dragged into the thick mist.

Sailor Mars felt the slight breeze and the seismic vibrations through the soles of her red high heeled shoes coming from somewhere behind her. She pursued her lips tightly together as she risked a glance over her right shoulder. Her violet eyes snapped open as a surprised gasp escaped her lips. Sailor Mercury was gone and it had happened right next to her.

A cold chill raced down her spine as the reality of what had just happened washed over her. She knew that Sailor Mercury would not have gone off without telling her first which meant that Carnage had somehow managed to stealthily capture her without her realizing it. A bead of nervous sweat ran down her face and her teeth clamped together hard. She was scared and there was no denying it. Her confidence was severely shaken as she tried to maintain her sensory alertness. She couldn't help the feelings of uneasiness at how close Carnage had gotten to her without her even knowing about it. She prided herself on being tough and an exceptional warrior that was not easily spooked by most things. As she now found herself alone in this eerie fog, that sense of fear that she tried so hard to keep hidden began to quickly creep out and take hold of her. This situation felt like being in one of those horror movies that she had flipped passed during some of the rare times when she actually did watch television. It was exactly like the cliché scene in all of those films where the monster was lurking around the scared and alone girl as it moved unseen around her and waited for the right moment to strike.

A flash of movement drew her attention and in a split-second there he was, appearing abruptly right in front of her out of the mist as he charged full steam at her. She fought the shock of surprise at Carnage's unexpected arrival and frantically tried to get a fire soul fireball off. She knew instinctively that it was too late as the built-up fear inside her was causing her to be slow in her reaction time and he was covering the distance between them in an impossibly fast pace.

She began to prepare her body for the incoming impact of his tackle when Sailor Jupiter came charging in from somewhere off to her left and drove her shoulder directly into Carnage's side and knocked him over. He quickly recovered and rolled with the hit so that he landed on his hands and knees. A second after his hands and knees made contact with the grassy field underneath them he lifted both of his arms and rapidly extended them towards them at seemingly impossible speed.

His arms elongated out and wrapped around both of them like tree vines. Sailor Jupiter's arms became firmly pinned to her side as Sailor Mars' remained free as she struggled in vain to pry herself loose.

Carnage stood up and began to slowly walk towards them. His arms became shorter as he closed the distance between them and the organic alien tissue merged back into his body. When he got to within seven feet of them he stopped and watched the both of them with his large white eyes. He tilted his head slightly to the side in almost quizzical fashion as if he was waiting for them to do something. When no attack from either of them occurred right away he moved his arms together and the red material covering them as well as the twin tendrils holding them instantly merged together into one thick stalk.

This fusion caused Sailor Jupiter and Mars to be bound back to back just like how Sailor Mars and Mercury had been only a couple of minutes earlier. Carnage retracted his arms after first severing himself from the material that firmly held the two sailors. The symbiotic material continued to recoil until they were once again the usual length of his arms. Once they had briefly regained their humanoid shapes he morphed his hands into a pair of giant fan blades. They began to spin rapidly like the propellers of a small airplane which caused the thick mist that was still hanging over the battle field to quickly dissipate. After about thirty seconds the fog had completely lifted and Sailor Jupiter and Mars found themselves once again in the grassy plateau overlooking the lake that was bathed in the warm sunlight.

They were still bound tightly together but were at least able to see the results of the mock battle now. They were in the centre of the field with the rest of their friends spread out around them. Sailor Venus remained pinned to the ground about fifteen feet away from them, Sailor Mercury was tied to the trunk of a tall Japanese maple tree at the far end of the field where the forest met the wild grass. Sailor Moon was still on the ground where Carnage had left her after wrapping her in the cocoon of symbiotic material.

Carnage subtly lifted his chin as he silently used a mental command to loosen the organic restraints around the pair of warriors. It fell to the ground at their feet with a soft thud before slithering through the long grass to rejoin Carnage's body. For anyone else that would be a very freaky sight to behold but it was something that the sailors were used to since being in battle with Carnage several times and witnessing the event more than once. The material binding sailors Mercury and Venus as well as Moon crumbled to a fine red dust instead of rejoining the main body. They each got back up to a standing position and dusted the remaining red powder off of them with their hands.

As the sailors recovered, Carnage's costume around his head retracted and unwrapped, stopping at the base of his neck to expose the cranium of Sean once again. The soldiers again took positions around him as each of them wore a serious look that contained hints of both shame and embarrassment. Any confidence that they had felt before the battle was now completely gone. The entire battle had taken less than five minutes which was publicly confirmed by Sailor Mercury's minicomputer, adding to their collective feeling of humiliation. Sean's prediction about their survival time in an intense battle had been absolutely correct. That wasn't the most unsettling thing about what just happened. They knew that he had been holding back against them and yet they still had been easily defeated. If this had been a real battle they would have been defeated much sooner. Sean glanced around at them and looked at each of them one at a time before speaking.

"Is everyone ok?"

"I guess … except for maybe our pride." Sailor Venus quietly uttered.

"And our self-confidence …" Sailor Mars humbly added.

"Ok … does anyone know what went wrong?" Sean asked the group as he looked down the line at them.

None of them spoke up or offered any response to his question. They instead cast their eyes downward or continued to stare at him with a blank expression. He saw the emotionless visages in them which told him that they had no idea of what answer to give. He decided it would be best to just cut right to it and address the group one at a time.

"Sailor Mercury … your shabon spray is indeed a powerful weapon. It is true that it gives your team a tactical advantage by limiting your enemy's visual sight but it can also put you and the other sailors at severe disadvantage if you don't know how or when to use it."

"Sailor Venus … you have to keep your opponent guessing and think two moves ahead like in a game of chess. You can't use an attack and stand there and hope that your offensive works. You must always assume that your opponent will evade your attack and set up your next tactic so that you can catch them off-guard if they do manage to dodge it."

"Sailor Moon … you cannot let your guard down in battle for even a second. You must be battle ready at all times and assume that you are alone until proven otherwise. You can't be dependent on others to always help you when you are in trouble."

"Sailor Mars … Sailor Jupiter … you both have extensive martial arts training and exceptional hand-to-hand combat skills. In close conflict you should use them in an attempt to knock your opponent down or keep them distracted. You can even use those abilities to set them up for an attack from someone else. In addition to your natural capabilities the nature of your specific sailor powers allows you to channel them out through your body which means that you are not limited to merely just projectiles. That was the reason why I purposely attacked you in the manner that I did. I wanted to see if either of you were aware of that reality."

"It's easy for you to stand there and criticize us. You have a costume that makes you practically invincible." Sailor Venus flatly stated with more than a little frustration in her voice.

"You are mistaken, Venus. I am not unbeatable. In fact, two of you right now, have the power to defeat me."

The girls' eyes widened with that statement. They instinctively looked around at each other as they each wondered which two of them he could be referring to. Was it Sailor Mars with her fire-based power or Sailor Venus with her focused light energy? Thinking outside of the box Sailor Mercury privately considered that maybe he was insinuating that it perhaps had nothing to do with power at all and that maybe it was the personal connection he had with Sailor Jupiter that made her one of the two that he was talking about. It was possible that he was referring to how he could get distracted by her which would allow an opening in his defence for someone else to attack him.

Sean quietly watched them as they each pondered the meaning of his confession. He maintained his stoic appearance but inside he couldn't shake the feeling of remorse he felt after seeing his friends' confidence become shattered by his actions. He knew he had to do it as they would now learn from this experience and become stronger because of it. When he felt they had had enough time to muse over his question he regained their attention again with a wave of his hand.

"I can see that you are struggling to figure out just who I am referring to so I will just tell you. Nevertheless I want to say something first and that is that I trust all of you with my life and I hope that you all would trust me with yours. It is that fact that makes me comfortable enough to share this information with you so that we will not have any secrets between us."

He paused for a second as he rolled his shoulders and steadied his body. He took a deep breath in and let it remain inside him for a few seconds before slowly exhaling it out through his nose.

"My alien partner is vulnerable to only two things. The first is sonic or high frequency sound. The second thing is fire."

He looked directly at Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars as he said that. It was clear that they all were struck with surprise including Sailor Moon herself. It had seemed somewhat unlikely to a few of them that she could be one of the people that possessed the power to take Carnage down. Sean broke the abrupt and quiet reflection time among them by speaking again.

"Ok everyone … let's take a break and catch our breath. We all need time to think about what was said and what we have all learned. When we resume the training we are going to be sparring against each other in one-on-one matches while I observe."

Unbeknownst to the sailors and Carnage at that moment back in the city the young man known as Game Machine Joe had just left a small arcade in the Shibuya Ward of the city. Joe had been spending the afternoon practicing on the crane games there as he had been doing for the past several weeks. He was determined to reclaim his former reputation as a game master that he had lost as a result of the rainbow crystal being stolen weeks ago. That crystal had given him the telekinetic ability he had used to gain his notoriety. He still remembered the entire ordeal and the shocking revelation that he had once been a Dark Kingdom monster that had been reborn as a human. It had taken him quite some time to fully come to grips with that but he now felt he was ready to go out in public again and salvage what he could of his life, starting with his prowess for crane games. He knew that if he practiced enough he could become good once again. He wanted nothing more than to bask in the glory of his peers once again and forget the reality of what he really was.

As he walked down the street towards the monorail that would take him back home he did not notice that he was being watched by a tall man dressed in black armour with a sword at his side and a long flowing red and black cape until the man stepped out of an alley in front of him.

"Hello Joe, or would you prefer I call you Gesen?"

Joe's eyes widen with fear upon hearing that name. It was the name of his true self, the inner monster that he really was as one of the Dark Kingdom's Seven Shadow warriors. He turned to run away to get as far from this ominous stranger as he possibly could. He didn't want to be Gesen again and he absolutely didn't want to hurt anyone like he almost did last time.

The armoured man smiled arrogantly as he watched Joe's pathetic attempt to escape. He simply outstretched his right arm and opened his hand. Inside, was a small dark crystal that floated in the air in front of his still-extended arm. It instantly began to glow with light as it sensed its close proximity to Joe, who continued his futile attempt to escape. The crystal emitted light blue-coloured rings of dark energy that focused in on Joe. In no time at all the rings caught up to and surrounded him in a continuous loop of descending circles. He abruptly stopped as if he had become frozen to the ground. He screamed as he felt his insides shift around as if they were being twisted and pulled by unseen forces. In the span of a few seconds it was all over with Joe seemingly disappearing into thin air. The armoured man smirked again and a small chuckle escaped his cruelly-smiling lips.

"All too easy", he snidely remarked. He took hold of the crystal in his hand and held it up to his face as he peered into it. He stared at Joe who was now trapped inside the crystal as he looked back at him.

"One down … six more to go," he said out loud to himself before disappearing into the chilly early afternoon air.

End of Chapter 5 …

16


	7. The Coming Day

Chapter Six: The Coming Day

It had been a physically gruelling training camp for the Sailors. For the past five days, they had been fine-tuning their fighting skills seemingly non-stop from their arrival mid-morning until dusk set and the shadows grew long. Their instructor, teammate and friend Sean, had provided them a limousine to get them to and from the lakeside area every day. By dipping into the accumulated wealth that he possessed he was able to have them remain completely focused on their training and the main reasons why they were there in the first place. This also had the additional bonus of helping to keep their individual and collective morale high after being put through the proverbial ringer by him every day.

It was not uncommon for some or all of them to fall asleep during the two-hour ride back to the city, as the physical exhaustion of their young bodies overtook them once the adrenaline in their veins wore off. Sean, who rode back with them every night, would watch from his seat as they slept and often couldn't keep from smiling. It was a humbling feeling for him to be in the presence of such remarkable young ladies. They possessed a remarkable level of desire and inner strength to willingly put themselves through such intense training simply because their destinies dictated that they had to. The tremendous burden of defending this planet that had been placed on adolescent shoulders was unfair but one that they had accepted with grace and maturity.

On the morning of the sixth day, Sean arrived at the training area an hour before the girls were scheduled to arrive. He knew that they were already on the road and heading towards him. He looked around the large flattened plateau that had served as their boot camp, and regarded the reminders of the past five days. There were several patches of burnt grass from Sailor Mars and Venus' numerous fire soul fire blasts and crescent beams but nature had already begun the task of reclaiming the affected areas. The wild flowers and long grasses that had been trampled by their evasive and offensive movements were slowly beginning to bend back upwards towards the warm sun that continued to shine down on them.

Sean thought about what he had taught them and what they had learned since first coming up here. He severely doubted that they would have progressed as much as they had if they had remained in the city where the busy streets and daily stresses of their lives could and would distract them. The secluded area overlooking Lake Okutama allowed them to push all that aside and concentrate on practicing and training their individual and group fighting skills. This was to prepare them all for the final battle with the Dark Kingdom that they all knew was fast approaching.

His training method mainly consisted of having the Sailors break into various one-on-one matches which pitted themselves against each other. Since there were an odd number of Sailors Sean had trained with them using his symbiotic powers to test them. They rotated opponents so that could face each other in every conceivable combination. They had even faced two or three-on-one skirmishes so that they could learn how to take on multiple opponents at once. Sean had referred to this type of exercise as the "Bull Ring". During the times where he would work with them one-on-one he would identify and utilize their individual strengths that would be beneficial in the heat of battle. At the same time, he assisted in refining their specific weaknesses by completing a single or series of seemingly mundane or dangerous activities. One of more challenging ones was blindfolding one of the Sailors and having them attempt to follow either movement or another Sailor around them using only their other senses. This and the others challenges were meant to be tools to assist in the improving upon the mental, emotional or physical shortcomings that he recognized.

There was no argument that his training methods were challenging and his expectations of them were at times impossibly high, but the results were speaking for themselves. Bit by bit they were becoming more fluid in their movements and demonstrating increased battle strategy as they faced different opponents or scenarios. Matches were now lasting longer as both sides were able to evade, set-up and counter the other's movements. He had been thrilled to witness this as he knew many teachers across the world would be when they see their students' progression, no matter how significant.

"They are ready. Today is graduation day", he whispered to himself.

When the Sailors had first arrived six days ago they had engaged in a mock battle against him. In that battle scenario, Sean, in his Carnage persona, had taken out the entire Sailor team in less than five minutes. The exercise had shown that they were still fighting like amateurs and not the soldiers they were destined to be. Now after the training he had given them, every single one of them was moving, attacking and defending with a grace and skill that reminded Sean of some of the finest warriors that he had ever encountered. He could see in each of them a confidence that was usually found in fighters much older and more experienced than they were. Each of them was now much more unpredictable as they constantly moved around their opponent so they would not to be an easy target for them. They were also using the environment much more effectively in various attempts to set up their adversary for group attack combinations or singular power blasts.

During the group matches yesterday they were working together more cohesively and attacking together. They were now utilizing other offensive moves rather than just their Sailor powers. It was almost uncanny as how they had each progressed especially Sailor Moon, which had been a large surprise to everyone.

He looked down at his watch again. If everything continued to run as smoothly as it had been for the past few days the girls would be arriving in fifty-five minutes. He lifted his head and smiled as a pleasant thought passed through his mind.

'I have time for a swim."

Unbeknownst to Sean and the Sailors, while they had been engaged in their intense training far away from the city, the Dark Kingdom had been busy with their next plot. Prince Endymion had been tasked by Queen Beryl to collect the seven former carriers of the Rainbow Crystals and imprison them inside the Dark Crystal.

The Rainbow Crystals had been the shards of the Imperium Silver Crystal that was now in the possession of Sailor Moon. When the Dark Kingdom had been sealed away by the Imperium Silver Crystal eons ago the crystal broke into seven different coloured pieces that each contained one of their strongest warriors, the Seven Shadows. When the magical seal that bound the Dark Kingdom was finally broken the seven crystals and the evil warriors still imprisoned in them were somehow transported into the bodies of seven random human beings at the time of their births over the course of several years. As a result, those humans became gifted with unique supernatural abilities such as premonitions or telekinesis because of the magical crystals and the captive monsters within them. These crystal carriers had no recollection of their former lives as Dark Kingdom monsters nor were they aware of the crystals that were inside of them.

Two months ago Queen Beryl had ordered her former general, Zoisite to track down and take the rainbow crystals from their human hosts. The blonde-haired general had been given the dark crystal held by Jadeite's predecessor Nephlite, to locate the energy signatures that each rainbow crystal emitted. Upon hunting down the first carrier, Zoisite made a startling revelation. Whenever a crystal was removed from its human host the monster inside it would be released and take over the person's body to return to their original monster form. The shadow warrior would then have complete control over the body both physically and mentally and immediately turn into a servant of the Dark Kingdom.

Luckily, Sailor Moon had discovered that she was able to 'heal' them with her Crescent Moon Wand. The magical spell she used caused the monsters to be imprisoned back inside their hosts and transform the person back to their usual human appearance.

Since the first incident with Game Machine Joe and the debut of Sailor Jupiter over two weeks ago, it had been a back and forth struggle between the Dark Kingdom and the Sailor team. The hero known as Tuxedo Mask was also trying to locate and claim the rainbow crystals for a yet unknown purpose. When the final carrier was revealed and its crystal claimed, the Dark Kingdom had managed to acquire four of the crystals, while the Sailors and Tuxedo Mask possessed the other three. In the ensuing final battle with Zoisite at the Starlight Tower the seven crystals were finally brought together. It was only when Tuxedo Mask was gravely injured and Sailor Moon cried tears of grief that the rainbow crystals merged together to become the Imperium Silver Crystal again. It was at this same time that Usagi learned that she was the Princess of the Moon Kingdom reborn, and that Tuxedo Mask was the Prince Endymion of the former Earth Kingdom.

When Queen Beryl had ordered Endymion to recapture the former crystal carriers she had explained to him the reason behind it. Even though the humans no longer carried the crystals inside them and the captured monsters had been defeated by the Sailors several weeks ago, they still could unleash their ultimate power. She pressed on by enlightening the brain-washed prince that if they could get the Seven Shadows together at the same time they would merge together to form the Ultimate Shadow. This would be a creature of incredible and terrifying power that would ensure them victory over the Sailors since it had been the one that had killed the princess and the Sailors back when the Moon Kingdom had fallen almost ten millennia earlier. She was very confident that history would repeat itself and allow her to claim the Imperium Silver Crystal for herself and their glorious ruler Queen Metalia.

Over the past few days Prince Endymion had managed to capture two of the Seven Shadows, starting with Game Machine Joe and an overweight cat named Rhett Butler. The prince was currently standing in an abandoned warehouse ready to find his next target. He opened up his hand and the dark crystal appeared out of thin air before hovering an inch or so above his palm. He grasped it as soon as it had finished materializing and mentally commanded it to show him the next former crystal carrier.

The obsidian began to glow a light blue colour as a powerful invisible force blasted out from the bottom of it and kicked up the loose dust and dirt from the warehouse's floor before swirling it around. It spun end-over-end a few times in the air before righting itself and creating a triangular screen for the prince. On the magically-created display was a holographic image of a person. Prince Endymion arrogantly smirked as he looked at the person being shown and thought that this would be another easy snatch and grab. The crystal hovered in silence for a few more seconds before emitting a soft beep which was the indication that it had found the target's location and was switching over to tracking mode. The dark crystal would now act very much like a metal detector and increase the rate of 'beeps' as it got closer to the specific person. The prince straightened his shoulders as he took the crystal back into his right hand and melted into the black shadows that surrounded him. In seemingly no time at all he was gone before the light of the dark crystal fully left the room.

Just under an hour later the Sailors arrived at the lakeside area that was now their new hangout spot. They all stood at attention as they patiently waited to find what their first exercise of the day would be. They appeared to be well rested despite the amount of physical strain Sean had put their bodies through over the last several days. Even Usagi looked like she was wide awake which only proved to others how serious she was taking this training. Sean looked at each of them and took mental note of the new confidence that each of them was projecting. Their physical appearances and visible poise only strengthened his decision that they were ready to take on the best that the Dark Kingdom had to offer.

"Good morning, everyone. How are you all feeling today?"

"We are doing fine, Sean. We are more than a little sore from the past few days but nothing we haven't experienced before."

"So … what do you have planned for us today?" Rei asked.

"Funny you should ask that Rei. I have decided that today will be the last day of training. It's time for your final examination!"

"A test? You can't be serious! I haven't studied at all", whined Usagi.

"Don't worry, Usagi. It's a simple task. All you have to do is defeat me", Sean replied with a smile.

The girls exchanged somewhat concerned looks. The memories of their first attempt at doing that flashed across each of their minds. Carnage was a very tough opponent and they knew that he wouldn't be holding back at all in this encounter like he had been in the previous one. They slowly encircled Sean once again as they came to terms with the realization that the stakes were higher now. They had to win this time, as it would be the final piece of proof they needed to let them know it was time to take the fight to the Dark Kingdom.

"Listen up everyone. All safeties are now off. I want you all to use your full power against me. If you have the chance to hit me do not hesitate."

The girls looked at him with a mixture of confidence and determination, yet there was a feeling of unease. They each told themselves for the umpteenth time that they had to do better against him this time or they would be in serious trouble if the Dark Kingdom launched an attack on a bigger scale than anything they had done in the past. At the same time the idea of using their full power against their dear friend, and the real possibility that they could cause serious injury to him if they were able to successfully hit him was something that did not sit well with them at all.

Dropping into a bent knee stance Sean transformed into Carnage. Long red tendrils of symbiotic skin appeared from various points along the clothing he wore and proceeded to instantly wrap themselves around his body's frame. Long strands of pseudopodia sprouted from the outer parts of his legs and arms. They wiggled and swayed from side to side as they anxiously awaited the chance to strike. The sharp claws on both his hands were fully extended and ready to swipe at anything that presented itself to them.

Sailor Mercury, who was standing directly behind Carnage, did not allow herself to be distracted by her opponent's sudden physical change. She instead cast her gaze to the sides as she used her peripheral vision to look over at Sailor Venus, who was on her left, and Sailor Jupiter on her right. Both of the girls blinked twice as they returned her gaze out of the corners of their eyes. They did not want to take their eyes off of Carnage but they wanted to make sure that she saw their acknowledgement. Sailor Mercury steadied herself and rotated her weight back onto her heels. She planted her feet firmly onto the ground in preparation for her opening attack. Carnage still had his back to her as he continued to watch Sailors Moon and Mars who were standing in front of him. Internally, she appreciated her positioning because Carnage's large white eyes were unsettling to her at times. She cleared her mind as she took in a deep breath. She needed to be completely focused if they were to be successful. When she felt that she was ready she sprang into action.

"Shabon Spray!"

The thick cold fog instantly descended upon the battle field once again. Unlike before, the other Sailors were better prepared this time. At the first sign of Mercury's movement Sailors Venus and Jupiter moved quickly around the battlefield. Neither of them took their eyes off of Carnage as they changed their initial battlefield positions.

Carnage moved within seconds of Sailor Mercury announcing her attack as well. He bent his knees even more before pouncing forward at Sailor Moon who was only about eight feet in front of him. As his body sailed through the air the fog settled and solidified all around him. Sailor Moon's figure instantly became cloudy as the mist filled the rapidly shrinking space between them. At the last second he saw her shadow move quickly upwards and disappear. He knew that this meant that she had jumped so he wasn't surprised when he landed back onto the ground and found nothing else there. He remained down on his hands and feet like a jungle cat as he craned his head around to take in his surroundings. He could see quick blurs of movement that could only be dimly seen through the thick mist. The grey-coloured haze was obscuring the bright colours of their individual uniforms which was making it very difficult for him to identity and track their whereabouts as they maintained their perimeter around him. Carnage smiled and his black teeth created a somewhat ugly visual.

_Good. They have learned,_ he thought to himself.

Somewhere in front of him he saw a faint silhouette jump from left to right. It was tough to judge distances in the unnatural fog so he resisted the urge to leap towards the shape, knowing that it would be gone by the time he landed. He chose to look towards the area where the shape would have landed. He elongated his arm at a lightning-fast pace to ensnare the figure before they could jump away again.

The Sailors' decoy strategy worked out perfectly as he fell right into their trap. While he was focused on the person he was attempting to grab he had left his rear wide open to attack. Sailor Jupiter quietly and quickly like a ninja broke through the mist and threw her entire body weight into Carnage's mid-back. The momentum and power of her unexpected strike caused Carnage to stumble forward and lose his grip on the person that he had just grasped. The loss of tension on his target made him further off-balance and extended the time he needed to re-gain his stability.

Sailor Jupiter was gone before he finished straightening up, disappearing back into the fog. A few seconds later Sailor Mars appeared in front of him, running straight at him. Carnage saw her coming and extended his right hand at her. His hand morphed into a large crab claw and opened wide as it got closer to her. In response to the incoming attack she used her martial arts training and enhanced agility to gracefully duck under the inbound pincer without breaking her stride. When she got within striking distance she extended her right leg out and spun her body on the sole of her left high heeled shoe to complete a successful leg sweep.

Carnage fell onto his backside with a hard thud. The force of gravity continued to weigh down on him and made his head bounce off the uneven terrain. This further stunned him and slowed his recovery. Following his rough landing onto the ground Sailor Venus appeared directly above him as she completed the highest part of a vertical jump. Carnage was still in the process of recuperating from being knocked to the ground and he didn't roll out of the way in time. She came down and planted both of her orange-heeled shoes into the center of his chest. His alien skin was very durable and gave him protection from temperature, weather, knives and even small calibre weapons but it was still susceptible to strong body hits. The impact force from Sailor Venus' weight and downward motion knocked the air out of his lungs and delayed his recovery time by another few seconds. He let out a loud 'woof' sound as his body crumpled inwards under the impact.

Sailor Venus quickly hopped off of him and leapt back into the fog where she instantly disappeared from sight. As soon as her shadow disappeared Sailor Mars appeared again and ran passed Carnage as he finally picked himself off the ground. As she sprinted by she extended her right arm downward and let loose a rapid succession of her 'fire soul' fireballs to ignite the wild grass and flowers and create a wall of flames near him. The heat of the fires was enough to make Carnage stagger back a foot as his symbiote wanted to prevent the burning embers from touching it. Sailor Jupiter used his momentary distraction to zap him in the back with her 'supreme thunder' attack. The electric surge stunned Carnage again which allowed Sailor Mars to complete another pass. She created a second line of flames as she moved which proceeded to slowly trap Carnage within a growing box of fiery infernos.

The twin streaks of burning cinders were rapidly expanding as the grass and foliage fed the flames. Very soon they would merge together and completely and effectively trap him inside. Carnage instinctively leaped up into the air in an attempt to jump over the spreading fires and escape the Sailors' trap.

_Points for effort on their part_, he thought to himself as he neared the top of the flickering flames. The enhanced strength in his legs was going to allow him to clear the blaze with about two feet of clearance.

As he neared the top of his jump his body was struck by a beam of powerful light energy that could have only come from Sailor Venus. He had seen the mist and smoke in front of him light up as the laser approached him but couldn't twist his body enough in time to completely avoid what he knew was coming. He felt her crescent beam hit him in the front of his left shoulder which knocked him backwards and into the centre of the now fully closed-in fire box.

The heat inside their 'improvised' trap had become incredibly intense. The two lines that Sailor Mars had made had, as he had predicted, merged into a complete circle and he could tell by the random flare ups that he saw as he scanned the towering fiery barriers that she was still adding additional power to it. She was making sure that there were no weak spots in them for him to exploit and use to escape. The black smoke produced by the fires as they continued to burn when combined with the residual fog from Sailor Mercury's shabon spray was making visibility next to impossible even with the assistance from the symbiote. Even still Carnage was able to see brief glimmers of movement through the flickering flames that were indications that the Sailors were still moving around the battlefield on the other side. This was making it very difficult for him to get a bead on any of them. If he couldn't predict what they were going to do next he couldn't properly counter their next offensives against him. He realized at that point that this had been the Sailors' plan all along and it was now time for them to put the final phase of their plan into action. Despite the dire circumstances he was currently in he couldn't help but smile.

_You always were a quick learner Ami-chan._

He scanned the area around him once again. He was looking for any sort of opening in the barrier that he could use to either gain a tactical advantage or escape altogether. Fire was unpredictable and without combustible material to constantly feed it, it would eventually burn itself out. He knew the girls well enough to know that they would never allow this entire area to be burned to ash especially for the purpose of winning a training exercise. They would keep this 'trap' contained and prevent it from unnecessarily spreading. Using that theory, all he had to do was wait until the affected vegetation was used up and the barriers to fade away as they died down.

He also knew that the Sailors weren't going to let him wait them out, and would instead try to finish this battle quickly. He renewed his visual studies of his surroundings with fresh eyes to look for any clue as to what they were going to do to end this. As his mind worked to formulate a possible counter-plan to what he thought they might attempt he heard the unmistakeable sound of someone landing on the ground behind him. He spun around to face whoever it was. He was more than a little surprised to see that it was Sailor Moon.

He should have guessed it would have been her since she was the only one that hadn't launched any sort of attack against him yet. The temperature inside the fire trap was beginning to rapidly weaken his symbiote. The alien was screaming out in pain inside his head making his cognitive process murky and irrational. He had to get out of this set-up soon or the Sailors wouldn't need to directly attack again to beat him.

He again tried to jump over the fire wall. He anticipated Sailor Venus's beam attack this time and was prepared to counter it. Sure enough the beam did appear and he extended his arms straight down into the ground underneath him as he was in mid-air. His intention was to make the thick stalks rigid and use them like a pole-vaulter's staff to provide enough leverage to clear the beam and the top of the fiery wall without losing any of the momentum he currently had.

His large white eyes picked up to incoming objects coming at him from his left and right. Sailor Venus' beam was being accompanied by an electric attack from Sailor Jupiter and a fire ball from Sailor Mars who was taking a break from maintaining the strength of the fires' perimeters. The three attacks were coming at him from different angles and created a cross-over that intersected at his current location. In response to them Carnage rolled and twisted his body to avoid any direct hits from them but this also cut his jump short which kept him inside the wall of flames. He landed back on the ground in a crouched position with his hands down. He felt the presence still behind him and turned his head back around to face Sailor Moon once again.

Sailor Moon matched the fierce stare he gave her with one of her own. Her feet were firmly planted and her fists were tightly clenched at her sides. Her facial expression contained a look of solid determination. She was managing to successfully suppress her internal fear despite the incredibly dangerous situation she was currently in. She was the key to winning this battle and her resolve to not let her friends down was trumping her usual cowardly behaviour.

Without wasting any more time Carnage launched himself at her with his clawed hands outstretched and ready to grasp onto her as he tackled her to the ground. As he quickly closed the distance between them she took in a deep breath and began to scream as loud as she could. The red ornaments in her spherical hair buns began to flash and glow with rhythmic pulses. The sound vibrations of her continuous scream became amplified and transformed into supersonic waves that shot forward and hit Carnage full force which knocked him back.

Her audio attack's effects were immediate as the symbiote began to unravel and tendrils of various lengths flailed widely outwards in all directions. The red skin covering his body began to violently pull apart and expose the human body of Sean underneath. As this was all occurring he was screaming out in blood curdling agony as waves of extreme pain ripped through his insides. To the other Sailors that were standing on the other side of the flames, the sounds they were hearing from inside were unholy in nature and chilled the blood in their veins. They could not see through the fires but the inhuman shrieks were giving all of them a very good indication of what was happening on the other side.

Sailor Moon kept her scream going for as long as she could stopping periodically to take in quick breaths of air. She was being very careful to not take in a deep breath as the smoke from the fires would cause her to cough and break the sonic barrage she was creating. Her ears were doing their best to protect her from the feedback but she could still feel her eardrums rattling inside her skull. She could hear Carnage's cries of pain over her scream. She was thankful that her eyes were closed so that she could fully concentrate on her attack. She knew that she wouldn't be able to continue it if she was able to see him in pain especially since she was the one causing it.

Mercifully, after what seemed like hours but in reality was only a couple of minutes, her lungs finally gave out. Her red hair accessories stopped their musical pulsing which caused the sonic vibrations to cease and fade away into the super-heated air. She stood still for a few seconds, partly because she needed time to recover from such a large physical exertion, but also because she wanted to prepare herself for seeing the after effects of her brutal assault on Carnage.

The Sailors on the other side of the fire wall gathered together. They exchanged looks of concern among each other as they anxiously waited for something to happen. They had heard Sailor Moon's scream abruptly stop but had not heard it resume for several seconds now. Sailor Venus gestured over to Sailor Mercury for her to scan the inside of the fiery circle with her VR visor so that they could find out what was going on inside.

Sailor Mercury lightly tapped her right blue earring stud with her index finger which caused the semi-transparent blue tinted visor to wrap around her upper face. She pulled her micro-computer out from its hidden pouch on the side of her white tunic and began to input various kinds of data. As she feverishly typed in the information she periodically lifted her head to use the instruments inside her visor to see through the flickering flames. She could see two humanoid images inside but her sensors were having a hard time separating them from the surrounding heat of the fire wall. She knew that infra-red devices would be useless so she switched over to motion detection. One of the human-like images was down on the ground while the other one was standing a few feet away. She recognized the standing person as Sailor Moon when she saw her friend's trademark long hair braids flow behind her as she rushed towards the other person that could only be Carnage.

Her computer loudly chirped which drew her attention downwards as it finished its analysis of the information she had collected. She glanced at the results and her eyes rapidly moved from left to right. When she finished reading the report her head jerked up and she quickly put her computer away.

"Aqua Mist!"

She spread her arms wide before crossing her wrists above her head. She spun around several times on the soles of her blue knee-high boots. As she came out of her spin she spread her arms out again to bring them in front of her with the palms one above the other. From the ends of her fingers came a spray of water that shot forward and proceeded to quickly extinguish the fire wall. The flames quickly died down and left only numerous thick strands of grey smoke and vapour that rose up towards the sky. The heat created by their trap also rapidly dissipated and made the surrounding environment tolerable again. The area in the centre quickly became visible to them and the sight that awaited them was enough to make each of them question their choice in battle tactics.

Carnage, or what was left of him was lying face down on the ground. The symbiote was stretched out into very thin strands that criss-crossed over his body. They were barely covering his exposed human body while the rest of it lay in a bubbling puddle underneath and around him. His exposed skin was blistering from the heat of the fires in several areas and had a red tint to it from the first degree burns that he had suffered. The tall grass and plant life that had been caught inside with him and Sailor Moon had been completely burned away leaving only barren and scorched soil. This only added to the grim tableau of destruction that the scene presented to them.

"Sean!" Sailor Jupiter screamed out as her brain registered what her eyes were seeing.

She and the rest of the Sailors rushed forwards to the spot where he lay on the ground. Sailor Mercury knelt down beside him and gently took his arm so that she could look for a pulse. Sailor Mars stooped down beside her while Venus took a position on the other side of him. They both hoped to see any signs of movement from him as Sailor Mercury concentrated on feeling his pulse through the material of her glove. Sailor Jupiter for her part was down on her knees by his head. She gently stroked his head with her fingertips as she honestly did not know what else to do.

"Carnage … Sean … are you ok?" She quietly whispered.

"I'm sorry guys … I didn't mean for this to happen … he told us to not hold back …"

Sailors Mars and Venus looked up at Sailor Moon while Sailor Jupiter and Mercury maintained their gaze on their fallen friend. They had been so fixated on his condition that they had completely forgotten that she had been in there with him. She had gone to him when she let her eyes open to see what she had done but had moved out of the way when she saw her friends rushing towards them. She remained standing a few feet away but her eyes were filled with complete remorse and utter shame. Her knees were visibly weak and turned inwards as they trembled from the extreme emotional stress that was racking her body.

"He's got a pulse and it's slowly getting stronger!" Sailor Mercury finally announced after what seemed like an eternity.

They all breathed a collective sigh of relief at the prognosis that their friend was going to be ok. The burns on his skin would need to be looked at by a medical professional or there was a risk of severe infection or even something much worse.

He remained motionless for several minutes while Sailor Mercury continued to monitor his vital signs. Sailor Jupiter had carefully rolled him over onto his back so that he would be more comfortable and perhaps aid in his rate of recovery. Sailors Mars and Venus were using the time to calm Sailor Moon down and help her regain her composure by assuring her that she had done what she had to. Their words didn't help much but she appreciated their intentions.

"Hey everyone … look!" Jupiter called.

Everyone turned to look back at Carnage following Sailor Jupiter's announcement. They stared in hopeful amazement as the alien skin began to twitch and very slowly began to knit itself back together. The Sailors remained where they were, not because they were afraid of the strange sight taking place before them but actually taking comfort in them. After another series of minutes the red living tissue reformed over his face to create the 'mask' of Carnage once again. He gently lifted his head and turned slowly to look at the Sailors who were now huddled all around him. Slowly and shakily he used his arms and legs to brace himself as he attempted to get up to a sitting position first before standing. Sailor Jupiter gave him additional support by hooking her arms underneath his to hold him upright as he brought his legs underneath him.

By the time he had managed to get up onto his feet and stand up his costume had almost finished repairing itself, making him fully Carnage once again. He then transformed back into Sean but the sudden loss of the symbiote's augmented abilities almost caused him to fall back down to the ground. The quick intervention of Sailor Jupiter kept him from actually tumbling over and she continued to give him support even after he corrected and regained his balance. The rest of the Sailors continued to quietly look at him and wait for him to say something. They all felt that they had accomplished the goal of the training exercise by defeating him and using the tools that he had taught them. Seeing him in his present condition, they couldn't help but wonder if they had perhaps gone too far.

Sean looked at each of them finishing up with Sailor Jupiter behind him in one quick pan of the head. He gently grasped her arms that were still lightly wrapped around him in a sign of affection. She blushed a little in response as she felt the love from him pass into her. A few quiet moments passed between the group before he unexpectedly started to laugh. It was a friendly-sounding belly laugh that lifted the tense atmosphere that had been surrounding them ever since the mock battle had begun. His merriment was infectious as it got the Sailors laughing as well. The collective laughter continued on for a couple of minutes before he managed to regain control of himself and attempt to catch his breath.

"Excellent work my friends! That was truly a fight to be proud of! Congratulations! You are ready now!"

The Sailors jumped for joy at the confirmation of their victory and his declaration that they were now strong enough to take on the Dark Kingdom head-on now. They rushed up to him where they embraced him in a giant group hug laughing altogether once again.

While the Sailors celebrated their personal victory and new-found battle confidence, back in the city, a young Catholic priest was conducting the daily rounds of his church. He had been up at the altar arranging some of the items upon it when he had noticed that someone was waiting for him in the confessional along the wall near the back of the church. He stopped what he was doing and proceeded to step inside his side of the large brown-stained oak booth and sat down. He took a moment to clear his mind so that he would be more receptive to the person's words as he quietly listened. When he felt he was ready he turned and opened the window that connected the two compartments.

A young woman's face looked back at him through the thick metal lattice that partially obscured her face as well as his. The little light that managed to find its way inside the darkened chambers cast a checkered pattern on each of their faces as it passed through the metallic screen. The priest proceeded to conduct the ceremony of confession by listening to the confession of sins committed by the young woman with a kind and sympathetic ear. When she had finished he gave her blessings. She thanked him and silently left. A few seconds after she had departed another person entered the booth and sat down on the chair inside. The priest glanced over and could see that it was a young man. When he spoke the priest took note of the strong voice that he possessed. He also detected a clear tone of arrogance in his tone that unsettled him a little.

"Hello Father. I have sinned recently and …" He turned his head and looked directly at the priest through the metal mesh screen before resuming his sentence, " … I am about to sin again!"

With the completion of that cryptic statement the man produced a dark crystal from somewhere inside the black armour that the priest could barely make out through the little holes in the screen. A few seconds later the armoured man exited the confessional and strolled towards the front entrance of the church. A smirk ran across his lips as he clutched the dark stone in his hand, as his armour disappeared and was replaced with a black jacket and pants.

"Only a few more", he thought to himself as he disappeared into thin air before reaching the outside doors.

End of Chapter 6 …

13


	8. Destiny's Doorstep!

Chapter Seven: Destiny's Doorstep

The day that the Sailors had been preparing for had finally come. It was time to take the fight to the Dark Kingdom and end it's plague of evil against the people of Earth. The events that had occurred in the two weeks since their training camp on the shores of Lake Okutama had only confirmed this undeniable conclusion.

It had all started when the Sailors, more specifically Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Moon, had successfully foiled Queen Beryl's attempt to re-capture the seven former rainbow crystal carriers so that she could merge them together to form the nearly invincible Ultimate Shadow. Her brainwashed General Prince Endymion had been successful in capturing five of the seven former crystal hosts before he was stopped when he had attempted to snatch a young man by the name of Greg, who was a close friend of Ami's. During the climax of the resulting battle Sailor Moon had been able to use her Crescent Moon Wand's magic to purge the evil energy inside Prince Endymion. This had cleared his mind and restored some of his memories. However, this victory was short-lived as within seconds of Sailor Moon completing her cleansing, her Mamoru was re-captured by the Dark Kingdom and taken back to their yet still unknown headquarters.

The sudden loss of Mamoru for the second time had made Sailor Moon more determined than ever to crush the Dark Kingdom once and for all. She had been spending many long hours in her bedroom over the past fourteen days brainstorming various ideas and strategies on how they could get Mamoru back and defeat the Dark Kingdom at the same time. Each idea she had was later dismissed or discouraged by Luna because of the impracticality of it or difficulty it would pose for them. Nevertheless Usagi stayed firm to her desire to get her love back and not give into the self-doubt and frustration that would have claimed some other people. She was aware that in order to keep Mamoru for good once they rescued him they would need to completely eliminate Kunzite and the others at the same time or very shortly afterwards.

It was during one of her late-night mulling sessions over what she and her friends could do to rescue Mamoru that she experienced a sudden moment of clarity. She had been lying on her bed in her pyjamas when the epiphany struck her. It quickly took shape inside her head and soon developed into a full-fledged plan. As she focused in on it, the plan developed into a polished and refined strategy as the minor issues she saw with it were solved one by one.

It took about an hour but when it was over she felt like she had a solid plan. She was very much aware of her reputation for not being a master battle strategist so she decided that she needed the approval from another source before she presented her plan to the rest of the team. She looked over at her alarm clock on the nightstand beside her bed and realized how late it was. Everyone would be fast asleep and not appreciate being woken up by her to hear her idea. She decided it would be better for everyone if she got some sleep and let the idea settle inside her for a few more hours.

When she awoke the next day the idea for her battle plan remained crystal clear inside her brain. She took that as a sign that her idea was flawless and would allow her to achieve her goals. She didn't want to wait any longer and desperately wanted to start putting her plan into motion. She still felt that she needed a second opinion from someone that she trusted and had both the experience and knowledge to give her idea a fair assessment. Almost instantly she knew exactly who she needed to talk to. She reached over and picked up the phone on her nightstand, next to her alarm clock and dialed the number for Sean's apartment. It rang a couple times before he picked it up.

"Hello."

"Good morning Sean, it's Usagi."

"Oh, Usagi. Good morning. How are you?"

"I am doing ok despite, you know… what's been going on. You're probably wondering why I called you. I wanted to ask you … are you busy today?"

"Not particularly … no. Why? What is going on?"

"I want to discuss something with you but I want to do it in person. Is there somewhere that we could meet?"

"Hmmm … ok. Do you want to meet at Arisugawanomiya Memorial Park in about thirty minutes?"

"That sounds great. I will see you then."

Usagi hung up the phone and but found herself staring at the receiver as it sat in its cradle for almost a minute. _There was no turning back now,_ she thought to herself. She felt very confident that Sean would agree with her plan but she still couldn't shake the nervous anxiety of what exactly her plan would involve once they started putting it in motion. There were a lot of different variables to consider and an even greater number of opportunities for things to fall apart. In order for this plan to work it was going to need everyone to work together in perfect harmony for an undetermined period of time. That in itself would be a difficult feat to accomplish when one considered her and all of her friends' different personalities.

Approximately a half hour later Usagi entered Arisugawanomiya Memorial Park. A cool breeze blowing off the ocean water was keeping the warm sunlight from raising the temperature too much. Despite the earlier time of day there were already quite a few people in the park doing various activities. They ranged from a young man throwing a frisbee with his dog to an older couple walking hand-in-hand along the pathway that ran parallel to the bay to a business executive-type person talking on his cell phone while sitting on a bench. She looked at each of those people and smiled warmly. These were the type of people and the precious moments they were experiencing that she and her friends were fighting so hard to preserve. Beautiful and peaceful scenes such as these would be forever stripped away if the Dark Kingdom were to succeed in conquering the Earth.

A short distance away from her, Sean leaned over the thick metal railing of the stone wall running along the shoreline. He gazed out, lost in thought, at the calm ocean water that filled Tokyo Bay.

Ever since Usagi's phone call his mind had been troubled as to the reasons for her call. Her voice had sounded very different from what it usually sounded like. He picked up on the tone of nervousness that he had heard her use when engaged in serious conversations like the one she had with him a few months ago up at Lake Okutama. More recently she was using that tone whenever a conversation either directly or inadvertently switched to the topic of Mamoru Chiba. Her current level of emotional pain was crystal clear to everyone around her as she would suddenly become very quiet and the colour would drain from her face. When she did speak it would be very sombre and almost empty-sounding. When Usagi called Sean this morning her voice had sounded similar to that but not quite as sad. This led him to believe that whatever she wanted to talk to him about was of a serious nature and probably involved Mamoru to some degree. Another red flag for him was that she hadn`t rambled on as she usually would when engaged in a conversation with someone. In fact, the exchange between them had been short and to the point which was something that he would have expected from Ami or even Rei but not Usagi. It was common knowledge that Usagi could and had spent hours in the past talking with any one of her friends like Naru about anything and everything. Those two breaks in her usual personality were what troubled Sean as he stared out at the unruffled water surface.

"Hey Sean."

He recognized the young feminine voice behind him and turned around to face Usagi standing about three feet away from him. Her right hand was draped across the front of her body as it tightly grasped the fingers of her left hand. Her blue eyes were clearly lacking the usual brightness that was characteristic of her. He could tell that she was under a lot of stress and that her usual jubilant disposition had been replaced with a sombre and serious aura. It gave him the visual confirmation of what he had already been suspecting since her call to him. Whatever was bothering her now must be something big if it could put her in this physical and mental state.

The gentle breeze coming off the bay behind him made the loose material of her knee-length blue skirt and baggy sleeves of her white blouse flap in an almost hypnotic rhythm. He hesitated for a few seconds before slowly approaching her to put his hand on the top of her shoulder in a gesture of support. She looked up at him and gave a small smile in return to let him know that she appreciated the gesture. They both stood there for about a minute in silence as neither of them knew who should speak first. Sean chose not to say anything as he preferred to let her go first when she was ready so she could explain the reason for this sudden meeting.

Usagi lifted her head and locked eyes with him. She bit down on her lower lip which showed that she was still unsure if she should reveal her idea to him. The confidence she had last night seemed to vanish. Sean looked back at her and continued to quietly wait for her to speak. She felt no pressure from him in the slightest which eased some of the anxiety that was causing her to hesitate. She took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled it through her nose.

"We need a plan." She blurted out deciding to just come out and say it.

His eyes widened a little in response as the meaning of her statement settled inside him. He hadn't been expecting her to say anything like that as he had thought that she had wanted to talk about her feelings of loneliness and intense concern for Mamoru's well-being. She was not known to take anything seriously and often chose to engage in frivolous activities like reading comics during any Sailor-related meetings or goofing off during stake outs at potential Dark Kingdom operation locations. Conversely, the only times she would be serious were when one of her friends or Mamoru were in trouble. The look in her eyes now was telling him that there was something she was leaving out.

"Ok … I agree with you that we need a plan. Do you have any ideas?"

He wouldn't usually ask Usagi that question as she would typically be not paying attention or would only come up with some ridiculous suggestion. He felt it was different in this case because of the way she presented herself. It was no secret to anyone that the last four months had been especially tough on her. In a short span of time she had learned that Mamoru Chiba, an older college boy that she knew, was in fact the masked hero and ally of the Sailors, Tuxedo Mask. At the exact same time, she had been revealed as the ancient Princess of the Moon and Mamoru was actually Prince Endymion, who had been her love back when they both lived during the time of the Moon Kingdom. Ever since that fateful day her feelings were unmistakable as she realized that she was truly in love with Mamoru despite their previous 'rocky' encounters, and in the brief exchange they had before he was captured it appeared that he had felt the same way about her.

"Yes I do, but I need your help to make it work and to get Rei and the others on board with it."

"Ok … let's hear your idea."

Usagi laid out all of the details of her idea to Sean. Her plan was simple, but also extremely dangerous. At the core of the plan was that the Sailors would stage public battles and feuds between themselves to give the appearance that there was tension and in-fighting among them. Its end result, hopefully, would be to generate enough attention that the Dark Kingdom would notice it. The dangerous gamble of the plan was that the sailors would allow the agents of the Dark Kingdom to capture Sailor Moon and take her to their secret base where the homing beacon in her communicator would pinpoint her location to the other Sailors. Usagi also hoped that even if the enemy didn't seize her, that Kunzite or one of the other generals would open a portal long enough for Ami to analyze it with her micro-computer and hopefully get the location of their base that way.

When she had finished pitching her idea, she stared at Sean, anxiously awaiting his opinion. He stared back at her but remained silent. She could tell that he was carefully thinking over the details of the plan and considering all of the variables that she had identified and all the ones that she hadn't. He was the type to not say anything until he was good and ready and that was part of the reason why she had decided to seek him out. Concepts such as patience were not one of the virtues that she had been blessed with and she soon started to get restless. She shifted her weight from one side to the other and her hands rapidly opened and closed. After what seemed like hours he Sean finally began to speak.

"Your plan seems sound, but there are still some details that need to be addressed."

They spent the next half hour refining the plan's details to make it more believable to the Dark Kingdom but less dangerous to the team at the same time. Usagi was happy that he was supporting her idea and it meant a lot to her that he believed in her. When they were finished and both felt that the plan was solid they contacted the other girls using Usagi's communicator and called an emergency meeting at Rei's temple.

When the girls arrived at the Hikawa Shrine about twenty minutes later, Usagi revealed her plan to them. Sean stood behind her as a visual symbol that he supported her and her idea. When she had finished and the girls had the time to quietly think about it on their own they had been understandably hesitant. Like Sean had predicted to her on the way over to the shrine, they were mainly concerned with the uncontrollable variables that such a plot would involve.

"I don't know Usagi. What if the Dark Kingdom sees through our ruse?" Makoto asked, looking skeptical. "More importantly, how do you know the homing beacon will even work if they capture you? If it doesn't we will have no way of finding your exact location." Makoto added, her face grim with the dangerous gamble that Usagi's plan rested on.

"You have made some very valid points everyone but Usagi's intention is correct in that we need to find the Dark Kingdom's base if we are to have any chance of stopping them. I will admit that this plan is very risky but we need all of you to be on board with it to ensure its success", Sean answered, trying to show support for Usagi.

"If all of us are completely committed to it then it will make our public demonstrations that much more believable. I am confident that the Dark Kingdom will not miss this opportunity to make their presence known if they think we are distracted by the apparent mutiny among us. If and when they do make their move I will be watching over you all from afar during every open exhibition to ensure that Usagi does not get captured, as I believe Ami's computer analysis should be our primary strategy since its carries a reduced risk. And in the event that Usagi is thrown or pushed into a portal, I will go through it as well to give her assistance in either escaping or reporting back to all of you."

"That sounds a bit better but I still don't like this idea." Rei replied, tilting her head downwards as she thought about the plan's details.

"I agree with Rei. I don't like the idea of putting Usagi squarely in the Dark Kingdom's crosshairs, but it could be the only way to draw them out." Minako added.

"Then it's all agreed then. We will initiate 'Operation Base Find." Usagi exclaimed with a raised fist.

"Ohhh Usagi …" Rei sighed as she put her hand over her face.

A couple of days later they initiated their plan with their first display to the general public. As expected the citizens were shocked to see heroes that had been protecting them arguing and even trying to physically hurt one another. During the first altercation and the ones following it Sean would blend in with the crowds of people and listen and observe them to see if any Dark Kingdom agents were among them, as well as to judge the public's reaction to see if they were buying the Sailors' performance. If they weren't then their enemy certainly wouldn't.

It took just over a week and more than seven different clashes but the Dark Kingdom finally took the bait. Kunzite took possession of a young reporter named Nana Asahina and implanted one of his monsters named Ninjana inside her. He had originally tasked her with investigating several abnormal energy surges that Queen Beryl's sceptre had sensed. When Ninjana discovered that the strange power waves were caused by the clashes between the Sailors her mission changed to learning more about the nature of them. She followed Naru after the latest public feud between the Sailors had occurred at her mother's jewelry shop.

She continued to observe them, all the while being watched herself by Luna and Artemis. When they informed Usagi that Nana Asahina's sudden rise to fame was suspicious because she had been able to get some impossible photos and had discovered various political scandals when no one else could, Usagi decided to set the trap. Usagi went to Nana's apartment and informed her that Sailor Moon would give her an exclusive interview about why she is leaving the Sailor team for good.

The time and place for the meeting would be Juban Cemetery at eleven o'clock at night. Sailor Moon stood by herself at the tall stone clock spire in the centre of the cemetery while the other Sailors remained nearby and hid among some trees, to give the appearance that they didn't trust Sailor Moon and were spying on her. This was meant to continue the ruse that there was still fighting between them just in case the Dark Kingdom was also watching the scene before showing up. On the opposite side of the area from them, Carnage remained hidden in another patch of foliage. He was going to stay out of sight until Sailor Moon was either taken through the portal or if she was in danger and the other Sailors couldn't help her.

When the clock struck the top of the hour Kunzite suddenly appeared on top of the spire high above where Sailor Moon was standing, while Ninjana appeared at the base of the stone monument. Kunzite's arms were firmly crossed over his chest and his cold stare drilled holes right through her. Without wasting any time he got right to the point. With an intense look in his eyes that told Sailor Moon that he still wasn't completely convinced about the apparent schism that had formed between her and the other Sailors, he gave her an ultimatum: "Here's the deal-you give us the Imperium Silver Crystal and we'll let you come back with us. If you truly want to see Tuxedo Mask again then you'll hand over the Crescent Moon Wand NOW."

"I want to see Tuxedo Mask first." Sailor Moon held her ground.

Kunzite extended his right arm and opened his fingers. The surrounding air around them picked up a bit and there was a noticeable chill that quickly filled the surrounding area. A black hole abruptly appeared behind Sailor Moon. It silently hung in the open space behind her and she swore she could feel an even colder breeze radiating out from it on the back of her legs and arms.

"He's right through that warp hole and so is your freedom. You had better hurry and hand over the Silver Crystal because he's very weak. We're not even sure how much longer he's going to last in his present condition. That last battle he had really took it out of him but I'm sure he'd feel better if you were around. Come back with us and then you two can be together like you want."

"I don't know. I need to know more about this warp hole. I mean … no offense but I don't trust you."

Her hesitation only made Kunzite even more suspicious. Ninjana whispered in his ear that she was sensing the other Sailors nearby. His eyes narrowed a little as his doubts about this whole affair were confirmed. It had indeed been a trap set by the Sailors to either assassinate him or rescue Endymion. He decided to test the other Sailors' loyalties by having Ninjana attack Sailor Moon. If he had been mistaken they would let her get captured or even die. If he was correct they would attempt to save her and then he and Ninjana could eliminate all or at least some of them. Either outcome would be beneficial.

In a lightning quick movement Ninjana ensnared Sailor Moon in her super strong attack ribbons. When that occurred it was very tough for the Sailors to resist the urge to spring into action as they watched her struggle against the monster's steel-like bindings. They all knew that they had to hold out for the overall sake of the mission. Sean had told them to expect something like this and that they needed to give Ami as much time as they could so that she could use her computer to analyze the portal, and at the same time, prove to the Dark Kingdom that their deception was indeed real. They knew that Carnage was still nearby somewhere and was watching everything that was going on like them. They all held onto the belief that if things got any worse he would be the first one to jump in and prevent any serious harm from befalling their friend.

After about ten minutes of watching their friend verbally stall with Kunzite and struggle against his monster's ribbons the Sailors' loyalty to Usagi over-rode their sense of duty and they couldn't hold back any longer. They broke out from their hiding places and rushed in to save her. Their timely intervention prevented Kunzite from successfully capturing her and it also allowed them to eliminate one of his powerful subordinates in Ninjana when Sailor Moon purged her from Nana Asahina's body and destroyed her with the Crescent Moon wand's magic.

After Kunzite had departed following the defeat of Ninjana, Carnage appeared out from his hiding place and joined all of them at the base of the clock spire. As he approached them he took note of their facial expressions. They all seemed to say that they felt like they had failed and had nothing to show for all their efforts for the past week.

"Were you able to gain a location from the portal with your computer, Ami-chan?" Sailor Venus asked.

Sailor Mercury lowered her head and slowly shook her head. The other Sailors dropped their shoulders and their postures seemed to sink even lower as her confession made them feel even worse.

"I am sorry. I only got a partial location before … well … before we were needed."

"Don't worry everyone. The most important thing is that we are all safe and we have eliminated another Dark Kingdom agent. It was unfortunate that we weren't able to fulfill the intention of this operation but you made the right decision. I feel like we are nearing the end of this war so we need to take the small victories when we can."

His words made them feel a little better but not completely. They agreed with his belief that the final battle with the Dark Kingdom was going to occur very shortly. That realization made all of them experience a sense of nervousness and maybe even a little feeling of dread.

The next step towards that final confrontation occurred just two days later. For the past couple of months the Sailors had been using every spare chance they could to look for the portal that the Dark Kingdom had been using to bring troops or supplies in and out of the area. Ami had been running continuous computer searches since they started and using various algorithms to look for any unexplained energy readings or energy signatures that matched what her computer had on file from their previous battles with Dark Kingdom servants.

Minako and her guardian cat, Artemis had been looking in abandoned buildings or businesses, preferring to physically search rather than wait for a computer. Two days after the events at the Juban Cemetery, Minako and Artemis finally hit pay dirt. They went and alerted the other girls while Usagi's guardian cat Luna raced home to inform her about the discovery.

After waking Usagi up and leading her to the location, all the girls were soon gathered in the storeroom of an abandoned café. Just as they had imagined, there was a large black hole in the exterior wall that looked exactly like the one that Kunzite had created during the altercation two nights earlier. Unfortunately, Minako had been unable to reach Sean, which unsettled her a little.

"You ready, everyone?" Rei asked, looking around at the others.

"Hold on. Shouldn't we wait for Sean?" Usagi piped up.

"He isn't answering his communicator and I wouldn't know where to start looking for him." Makoto replied with an expression of disappointment.

Ever since the encounter in the alley with the young boy and the bullies, the bond between her and Sean had grown noticeably stronger. It had developed to the point where they could find each other almost effortlessly or feel each other's presence before they were in ear shot or eye sight.

In times of danger or when either of their emotions was heightened, that bond seemed to become even stronger, making it even easier to find the other or in some cases, feel the other's emotions or physical pain. The romantic side of Makoto was led to believe that this was a sign that their 'souls' were linked just like Usagi and Mamoru's seemed to be-star-crossed lovers that were destined to be together through time and space.

"We need his strength and help when we face the leader of the Dark Kingdom." Ami stated, reiterating the consensus within the group.

"What do you think Usagi?" Minako asked, looking towards their leader.

"Let's go through and learn the location of the base. Once we do that we will come back, find Sean and form a proper plan for when we return here." Usagi said after a few seconds of silence.

The girls slowly nodded their heads in agreement. Without waiting to be told by their guardian cats, they pulled out their transformation pens and changed into their Sailor uniforms at the same time. Luna and Artemis steadied themselves as they waited for their charges to finishing preparing themselves for what was about to occur. When they were done they looked back towards the portal.

"Here we go." Sailor Venus said, looking back at the others over her shoulder.

The two cats entered the black portal hole first followed by the Sailors a few seconds later. When they passed through the chilly-feeling wormhole and landed on the ground on the other side they came to realize that they were in a series of underground rock tunnels. It was impossible to tell if they were still on Earth or another planet. That filled them with a sense of anxiety as the reality that they were now on their enemy's home turf washed over each of them. They all knew that they had to stay focused so that they could quickly achieve their objective and get back home.

They swallowed their individual nervousness and began to explore the tunnels. Luna and Artemis had continued to move on ahead of them. When they reached a fork in the main tunnel the two cats went one way while the Sailors went the other. After about two minutes Kunzite suddenly appeared in front of them.

"I would love to welcome you ladies to the Dark Kingdom but preparations to receive you are not complete. Let me take you somewhere more fun instead."

"Don't mess around with us!" demanded Sailor Jupiter. "Supreme Thunder!"

Sailor Jupiter launched her electrical surge at the platinum-haired fiend. Without any show of intimidation from her angry announcement Kunzite calmly disappeared and then re-appeared a couple feet away as the crackling barrage of lightning passed by him and harmlessly struck the rock wall a short distance away.

"Sailor Moon. If you quietly hand over the Silver Crystal, I will let you live." Kunzite said quietly but menacingly.

"I am thinking the same thing. If you tell me what you've done with Tuxedo Mask, I won't punish you." Sailor Moon replied.

"What impudence. I will send you to the chaotic world of multiple dimensions." Kunzite remarked with a ton of scorn.

"Chaotic world of multiple dimensions?" Sailor Moon exclaimed with nervous fright.

"It may be the primitive era in Africa when dinosaurs roamed or it could be the era in Europe when fierce wars broke out." Kunzite informed her, taking delight in her terror.

"I don't want to be sent to a messed up world like that." Sailor Moon squealed.

He smiled at the look of fear that Sailor Moon had on her face as he raised his hands and proceeded to use his evil black magic to send the Sailors into the distant past of the solar system. As they were pulled through the dimensional rift that he had created Sailor Moon lost her grip on the crescent moon wand and it fell towards the ground. Kunzite lunged forward to grab it but the wand suddenly reacted and began to brightly glow before disappearing along with the girls.

When the black magic released them from its spell, the Sailors found themselves surrounded by ancient ruins. Sailor Moon was the first one to awake followed shortly after by the others as the stress of being thrown into the dimensional portal had caused them to be temporarily rendered unconscious. From her position on her stomach she slowly looked all around her.

There were shattered columns everywhere and broken stone archways that were scattered everywhere she looked. It was deathly quiet and as she cast her eyes upward she took in the black sky with the millions of stars shining down on her but the tiny shiny beacons looked different somehow. She slowly stood up and turned her body to the left. For reasons she couldn't explain she felt compelled to walk to the top of a large piece of stone that slanted in a downward angle. She guessed that it had at one time been part of a wall that had made up the building that accounted for some of the ruins that surrounded her.

When she reached the top of the slab of rock she felt her breathing stop and her heart freeze inside her chest. Off in the far distance and staring back at her was the planet Earth. She recognized it from the pictures in her various school textbooks and Saturday afternoon movies that she had spent many hours watching. Her nervousness and fear made her visibly tremble as she tried to comprehend what was going on.

"Where are we?" Sailor Moon quietly whispered as she took in her surroundings

"These are the ruins of Silver Millennium, the land of gods that once attained the pinnacle of glory." A soft, echoing voice was speaking from somewhere behind her.

"Silver Millennium?" Sailor Moon called back as she turned to look towards the spot where the voice had come from.

Sailor Moon turned around to address the mysterious but distinctly feminine voice that had answered her question. It did not sound threatening or angry but its sudden announcement had caught her by surprise. In the windless air around her it echoed off the pieces of crushed and crumpling stone remnants which increased the nervous tension she felt as she looked for its source.

A bright sphere of light hovered above her and slowly descended down towards the ground a few feet away from her. Like the voice that came from it the light's appearance did not come across as ominous or something to be feared. Quite the opposite, actually it looked almost heavenly and for a brief moment Sailor Moon thought she might be looking at an angel. That notion was further strengthened when a second later the sphere flashed a brilliant white light and when it dispersed, it took the form of young woman.

The mysterious figure wore a white strapless dress that descended passed her feet. On the dress's front was a large white bow with a large crescent moon in the centre of it with the points of the moon facing upwards. Any excess material floated outwards from her central body as if to form a puddle underneath her. Sprouting out behind her were four semi-transparent bows that almost looked like the wings of a dragonfly. They were long and narrow and one pair was tilted upwards while the other was tilted downwards. Her long platinum-coloured hair extended down to her knees and was styled in the exact same way as Sailor Moon's. On her forehead was a bright yellow crescent moon symbol that matched the yellow earrings she wore. Just like the moon on the front of her dress, the points of the moon were facing up.

"Who are …?" Sailor Moon asked, completely captivated by the woman hovering about her and slowly descending down to the ground.

"I am here to bring you a message from the distant past. I am the incarnation of the Moon Goddess, Selene. I am the Queen of Silver Millennium, Queen Serenity. I am your mother." The older woman looked down at Sailor Moon with a warm smile as she spoke.

"What? You're my mother? What do you mean by that?" Sailor Moon exclaimed, taking a step back in utter surprise and shock.

"I revived Luna and Artemis from their cold sleep and had them make contact with you and watch over all of you" Queen Serenity informed her.

As the mysterious woman touched the ground in front of Sailor Moon a white light that was even brighter than the one she had just arrived in surrounded Sailor Moon and the other Sailors who were now watching the events from a few feet away. The dome of light continued on and enveloped the surrounding area for a distance of two miles around them. When they all could see again they found that the landscape had changed and that they were seeing events unfold before them like a movie.

Over the next few minutes they all re-lived the day when the Moon Kingdom had fallen and learned the truth as to why they had been reborn and retained their status as Sailor warriors in the process. Queen Serenity used the Imperium Silver Crystal to have her daughter and her kingdom's citizens be transmigrated into the Earth's future so that they could live peaceful existences as her final dying wish.

With the sealing of Luna and Artemis inside their deep containers the flashback ended and the Silver Crystal transported them back to the underground tunnel where they had encountered Kunzite. When the girls reappeared in a circle, the emotional scene that they had all just witness played heavily on each of their hearts. As they stood there in silence, more than one of them was unsuccessfully trying to fight the tears that were welling up inside their eyes.

"We …" Sailor Moon whispered.

"Travelled …" Sailor Jupiter continued.

"Into the past." Sailor Venus finished.

"Now, we know why we're Sailor Soldiers." Sailor Mars stated, looking over at Sailor Mercury.

"Yes" Sailor Mercury flatly replied before turning to look back at Sailor Moon.

The sombre moment between all of them as they each tried to deal with the barrage of emotions that they were feeling after learning of the past events and their previous lives was cut short by a pair of sudden screams. They recognized them as belonging to Luna and Artemis.

During the time that the Sailors had been trapped in Kunzite's time warp the cats had continued to search the tunnels and had even found a way up to the surface. Once they were outside they had been able to determine that the Dark Kingdom's base was at a place called D-Point at the Earth's North Pole.

Unfortunately Kunzite intercepted them out on the frozen ice fields and drove them back underground as they frantically searched for the Sailors. They had managed to barely hold out long enough as Kunzite relentlessly attacked them but it looked like their luck was about to run out.

"Luna." Sailor Moon called out.

"Artemis." Sailor Venus added.

Kunzite turned to face the unexpected voices. His eyes narrowed as he took in the sight before him. The Sailors stood their ground to show him that he did not intimidate them at all. After seeing what he had done during the fall of the Moon Kingdom each of them was determined to pay him back with interest.

"I won't let you hurt them." Sailor Moon stated, tensing her body as the other sailors took positions around her.

"Sailor Moon? It can't be. I sent you to the chaotic world of multiple dimensions" Kunzite replied as he approached them, the surprise and shock at their unexpected presence clearly expressed on his face.

"You won't always get your way in this world." Sailor Jupiter countered through narrowed eyes.

"Thanks to you, we've recovered our past memories." Sailor Venus calmly stated, keeping her eyes solely on him.

"So we will…" Sailor Mercury said as she took a step towards Kunzite.

"Thank you now." Sailor Mars finished as she also took a step forward.

"Shut up. Don't give me that sass. You are still wet behind the ears." Kunzite raised his hands in a threatening manner as he barked his threat at them.

"Give back Tuxedo Mask … no, Endymion" Sailor Moon demanded.

"I won't mind giving him back to you if you quietly hand over the Silver Crystal" Kunzite evilly laughed as he responded to her desperate plea. He then thrust his arms out and covered the surrounding area in total darkness.

A brief struggle ensued with the end result of Kunzite being killed by one of his own energy knives after Sailor Moon deflected it back at him. When his body finished evaporating into a series of grey-coloured bubbles Sailor Moon rushed forward and gently picked up Luna in her arms.

"Luna, please hang in there", she begged quietly as she looked down at her dear friend in her arms.

"Usagi … no, Sailor Moon … no, Serenity, the Dark Kingdom's base is at D-Point in the North Pole", Luna informed her, her voice weak from the battle with Kunzite.

"Okay. We'll march into the Dark Kingdom right away. Right everyone?" Sailor Moon said as she stood up, still holding Luna in her arms. She looked back over her shoulders as she posed the last part to the other sailors.

"Yes." The Sailors all confidently said together with clenched fists.

Sailor Venus stepped forward and gently picked up Artemis mirroring what Sailor Moon was doing with Luna. Each of the other Sailors took positions around them but kept their eyes focused on their surroundings. There were still in the Dark Kingdom's territory so they had to be a high alert in case another agent decided to avenge Kunzite's death or stop their advance. A quiet few seconds past before Sailor Mercury broke the silence.

"We should head back to the entrance and get back to the city. We need to properly plan our strategy for the final assault on their base since we don't know what to expect. We should use this opportunity to retreat and regroup", Sailor Mercury said.

The other Sailors nodded their heads in agreement. Even though they were determined to end this war right now they knew that Sailor Mercury was correct in her logic. They were all running on pure emotion after witnessing the events of the distant past and their brief but intense battle with Kunzite. They couldn't let their feelings cloud their thinking or they would be easy prey to the Dark Kingdom. In addition they had to get Luna and Artemis to safety as they both were in very rough shape and would pose a liability to all of them if they continued deeper into the Dark Kingdom's territory. They all turned around and headed back down the tunnel the way they had come. Only when the last of them safely passed through the chilly black hole into reality did they allow their bodies to slightly relax.

"We should get some sleep and meet at the shrine tomorrow evening. Tomorrow, we are going to end this.", Sailor Mars said to the others.

End of Chapter Seven

14


	9. The Day of Destiny

Chapter Eight: Day of Destiny

The following day was the one that they had all knew had been coming. They all stood quietly in a circle in the large open front courtyard of the Hikawa Shrine once dusk had fallen. Each of them was understandably nervous as the reality of what they were about to do weighed heavily inside them. It was apparent that they had run out of time and that they had to stop the Dark Kingdom now or this was going to be the Earth's last peaceful night.

Over the past several days numerous black spots had begun to appear along the sun's surface. These sunspots were growing at an alarming rate which in turn was causing havoc with its influence on the Earth's environment. They were being blamed for all sorts of natural disasters that were occurring around the world. Volcanoes were erupting more frequently than usual, earthquakes were much more devastating and hurricanes were getting stronger since the first appearance of the blacken areas along the giant yellowish-red orb. Many of the world's leaders and leading scientific experts had been debating for weeks about the ramifications of the sudden increase in these environmental calamities and the crisis affecting the sun. The main topic of discussion was what would happen if they were to continue to afflict the various nations of Earth.

Usagi, the other girls, their guardian cats and Sean all knew the real truth of what was going on. The growing sunspots were the harbingers of Queen Metalia's impending revival. She was amorphous mass of sentient negative energy and the true ruler of the Dark Kingdom. If she was allowed to be successfully restored the planet and quite possibly the rest of the galaxy would be doomed. As the group of young heroes continued to quietly stand there and desperately tried not to think of the danger they were about to face. After a series of long seconds that felt like minutes, Sean finally broke the silence as he attempted to raise their spirits.

"We can do this. You girls are ready, so let's go and save the world."

"Actually … you can't go Sean." Luna said with more than a little reluctance.

Everyone turned and looked down at where their mentors were sitting in the centre of the human circle with serious looks on each of their faces. Luna and Artemis were both heavily bandaged as the visual reminder of their encounter with Kunzite yesterday.

"What?" Sean exclaimed with surprise.

"Luna's right. The only way to reach the Dark Kingdom's base at D-point in time to stop all this is with the Sailor Teleport. Only Sailor warriors can use it and they can't take any outsiders with them." Artemis clarified for the rest of the group.

"No. There has to be some way that I can go there with them. I am not going to let them face the fight of their lives on their own."

Makoto was standing beside him and was holding his hand. She felt the helplessness and frustration building inside him that wasn't already clear in his voice. She was deeply touched that he wanted to face the extreme danger alongside them. But ever since she had woken up this morning something inside her had been telling her that he wouldn't be part of the final battle. She couldn't explain it but every time she had thought about him she had felt a cold shiver following the usual surge of internal warmth. She knew that he had been feeling guilty ever since she told him about their adventure last night and how he had missed out of it. He had been underground checking out abandoned subway and utility tunnels when Minako had been trying to reach him so the multiple layers of thick concrete had blocked the communicator's signal. He had been very concerned when she had explained how they had been sent back in time and their encounter with the spirit of Queen Serenity. She was aware that they had been extremely lucky in finding their way back to the present and could tell that he was determined to not let them get trapped again in a similar attack.

She turned her head to look at him and knew that she had to somehow calm him down. If left unchecked, the rapidly building tensions around them could prove to be very well be the difference between victory and Earth's complete destruction today. She and the others could not afford to be distracted if they were thinking about him and how he had been left behind.

She gently pulled on his arm in a gesture that made him instinctively turn his head so that he was facing her. She let go of his arm and placed both of her hands on either side of his face. Holding his head firmly in place she locked her eyes with his.

"Don't worry babe. We will go there, crush those pieces of crap and make it back home in time for our date tomorrow morning."

"And besides … you will be the only line of defence for the city if anything sneaks passed us." Rei added with a friendly wink.

Sean's eyes flicked to the side as he looked over at Rei. He couldn't turn his head as Makoto continued with her firm vice-like hold on the sides of his head. After he acknowledged her comment his eyes flipped back to look at Makoto. A second later his shoulders visibly dropped and a small sigh escaped his lips. He knew better than to try and argue with them as they could be a stubborn as him. He dropped his head in surrender when she let go of his head. He let it hang there for a second or two before lifting it to look back at her.

"Alright, but you owe me a karate re-match." He quietly said to her but still loud enough that everyone heard it as well.

"Anxious to lose again, are you?" She replied back with a small laugh.

He smiled and leaned in to gently kiss her on the lips. Usagi and the other girls turned their heads away so that they were either looking at the sunset to the west that was turning the sky a vibrant red and orange colour or at the smooth cobblestones of the temple's main area. When the kiss between them finished he slowly let her go and let her re-join the other girls so that they could re-focus on the impending final battle. He walked over and leaned against a nearby wall so that he could continue to watch them as Makoto turned her full attention back on the group.

"Finally it's time." Minako said quietly.

"I can't wait." Makoto exclaimed as she cracked the knuckles on her right hand.

"I can't believe we've finally come this far."

"Hey Rei, did you at least kiss Yuichiro before you left?"

"Why are you asking all of a sudden?"

"Because if something were to happen, you'd regret it."

"Nothing like that is going to happen."

"Ohhh.. you mean. I was just worried for you Rei."

"It's none of your business."

Yuichiro was a young man who had recently moved in to the temple with the desire to be a shrine priest. He was older than Rei by about five years and had apparently come from a wealthy family. He had developed an instant infatuation with Rei and was willing to do just about anything he could to get her to notice him. This had often resulted in him being put into seemingly awkward or down right ridiculous situations.

"We should not be worried about 'what ifs' and focus on the here and now." Minako replied as Makoto and Ami nodded their heads in agreement.

"She's right. When this is all over I plan on having a full blown romance when I get back" Makoto chirped as she winked and gave a single thumb up gesture at Sean. He smiled back at her from his position against the temple.

"Yes, I would like to have a romance as well." Ami added casually before turning bright red when she quickly realized that everyone was staring at her intently.

"Ok. Enough talk, it's time to transform and go. We don't have any more time to waste." Artemis cut in sternly, breaking the girls' collective gaze of surprise at Ami.

The girls turned to look down at him and nodded in unison. They took out their individual transformation pens and proceeded to transform in their Sailor uniforms.

"Venus Power Make-Up."

"Mars Power-Make-Up."

"Mercury Power Make-Up."

"Jupiter Power-Make-Up."

"Moon Prism Power Make-Up."

With Sailor Moon's change completed they all joined hands in a circle and closed their eyes. They focused their internal energy and concentration on their destination which was the spot known as D-point located at the North Pole. They silently visualized the area using the images that Ami had found during the intense computer research she had done earlier.

It only took about thirty seconds for their collective power level to reach the appropriate degree. A bright shaft of light suddenly engulfed the Sailors and the gravitational forces around them seemed to visibly shift and be stuck in a stage of constant flux. The abrupt change in the Earthly force caused some of the cobblestones underneath them and loose rocks around them to be lifted up. They remained hovering silently in the air as if they were now filled with helium gas. All around the area, the air rippled and simmered as the heat from the sudden increase in supernatural energy warmed the surrounding area.

All this occurred within the span of only a few seconds. Almost instantly the intense beam of light that was immersing the Sailors and ascended up into the night sky above them became even brighter. It reached the point of brilliance where Sean and the cats had to turn their heads away from it because the light was blinding. A few seconds later, they could see the overwhelming shine quickly fade out from their corners of their semi-open eyes. When they felt it was safe to look back again they saw that the girls had disappeared and where hopefully on their way to the Dark Kingdom's base. They turned their heads back just in time to see the stones that had been levitating during the awesome spectacle drop back to the ground with a hard thud as the energy disturbance vanished and returned back to normal with the Sailors' departure.

Luna, Artemis and Sean didn't say anything at first. All they could do was simply look at the spot where the Sailors had just been. They didn't know it but they were all sharing the same thought as they all silently prayed for the safe return of their friends and charges. Sean knelt down between the two cats and exchanged a look with them that mirrored the internal concerns they were feeling as well. They remained silent for a few more seconds before turning their heads upwards to the sky at relatively the same time.

"Good luck." Artemis whispered out loud.

"Everybody, come back to us safely." Luna sombrely added.

They gazed up at the night sky with the millions of twinkling stars appearing to fill up the black void that lay a few mere miles above them. They were all looking towards the north in an instinctive reaction just in case they could see a sign that the Sailors had made it. They knew that it was a foolish sentiment considering the vast distance between them but they still felt compelled to anyways. When enough time passed for his liking Sean gently picked up both of the cats and transformed into Carnage as he stood back up. He placed Luna and Artemis up onto his shoulders where they dung into the symbiotic material with their claws to secure themselves to his body. Carnage did not feel any of the resulting pain as he thrusted his right arm out. A long red tendril sprang out from the end of it and wrapped around a thick branch of a nearby tree. When he felt it go taut he mentally commanded the symbiote to retract the material which pulled him upwards to the branch. He then jumped to the thick branch in the next closet tree and began to proceed in the direction of Usagi's house.

Thousands of miles away at the Dark Kingdom's base Queen Beryl became instantly aware of the Sailors' unexpected arrival. She smiled cruelly as she watched them survey the area they found themselves in with the crystal ball that hovered right in front of her. She moved the orb and the sceptre that it was connected to aside so that she could stand up and properly address the hordes of monsters and servants that were gathered in her throne room.

"Queen Metalia will be revived shortly. I will not all the Sailors to interfere until that happens. Whoever wants to give them a death sentence, come forward."

"Please allow us, the DD Girls, to take that assignment."

She smiled at the group of five feminine monsters that appeared from the crowd of monsters and stepped forward into the open space between them and her. She nodded her head at them and with a small gesture of her hand she dismissed them to go out and carry out their mission. After they had left she lifted her head and addressed the rest of the crowd.

"The rest of you go to the city of Tokyo and destroy everything and everyone that you can. Prepare this world for our glorious leader, Queen Metalia."

The gathered crowds of Dark Kingdom servants let loose into a chorus of cheers and roars of gleeful approval. Some of them raised their arms in excitement at the enjoyment they were going to experience from the destruction that they were going to inflict. Many of them had been anxiously awaiting this opportunity after being ordered to curb their violent tendencies for so many years as the Dark Kingdom slowly built up their power base. A few seconds later every single one of the monsters that had been gathered in the throne room disappeared leaving Queen Beryl alone in the vast and cavernous chamber. She began to laugh manically as she took great pleasure in the army of beasts that were on their way to the Sailors' beloved city with a mission of murder and mayhem.

She sat back down on her throne so that she could watch the events that would soon occur outside on the frozen wastelands through her crystal ball. Her sceptre quickly moved back to its position in front of her at her mental summons and hovered silently once again. She reached her hands out and placed them on either side of the silver orb. She began to move them up and down in a rhythmic manner as she usually did when using it. The way they slowly moved and flowed made it seemed like she was conducting the power the sphere radiated so that it was under her complete control.

A growing glow emitted from the crystal began as a visual of the Sailors appeared once again in the centre of it. She smiled again as she silently hoped that the DD girls would be successful in killing them. At the same time a large part of her secretly wished that at least a few of the Sailors would still somehow manage to make it inside the base and confront her. She would relish the opportunity to crush the life out of those immature whelps with her bare hands. The pleasant thought of her hands around their young throats caused her to laugh out loud to herself as she continued to replay that beautiful thought over and over again.

Meanwhile back in the city Carnage and the cats arrived at Usagi's house. He gracefully landed on the roof and was careful to limit the sound of his feet as there was a strong chance that Usagi's family was home and thus alert them to his arrival. He had met her mother and brother a few times over the past weeks but if he could avoid any meeting with them right now that would be better. Luna and Artemis jumped off of his shoulders a couple seconds after his landing but their usual natural grace was missing because of their injuries from the day before.

"Thank you for the lift Carnage."

"No worries Artemis. Do you want me to stay with you two until the gir—"

His sentence was cut short as the night sky above them suddenly became noticeably darker as thick black clouds seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The rapid speed that the blackness took over the sky was a clear sign that this was not due to a natural occurrence. The aura of the neighbourhood around them fell even more silent than it had been making the abrupt change all the more unsettling. Carnage and the cats scanned the area around them in every direction as they looked for any clue as to what was going on and who was responsible for the ominous phenomenon. They all instinctively knew that it couldn't be a coincidence that this was happening at the exact same time that the Sailors were conducting a direct assault on the Dark Kingdom's compound thousands of miles away.

A couple of miles away the collective sounds of the city and car horns and could still be heard from the direction of Tokyo's downtown centre as they carried along the eerily absent winds. They continued to silently wait on baited breath for what they felt was coming. The awkward silence around them was playing havoc with their internal senses as they each kept themselves on the highest alert so that they could react at a second's notice.

Carnage's head suddenly jerked around and faced towards the north. He dropped down to one knee and his right hand extended down to lay open and flat against the shingles of the roof. His abrupt movement acted like someone who was physically exhausted or suddenly lost their balance. Luna and Artemis slowly approached him from either side with expressions of concern as they both hoped that whatever had caused this sudden reaction was not what they feared.

"No ..." Carnage whispered through his black teeth.

"What? What is wrong Carnage?" Luna quickly asked. Her voice was full of fear as she hoped that she didn't already know the answer.

"Mako-chan ... Sailor Jupiter ... she is..."

He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence but Artemis and Luna knew enough to silently complete it. Tears of grief welled up in her eyes as the confirmation of what she had been thinking. Artemis became frozen with shock as he was unable to find the words to express what he was feeling inside.

Three seconds later all hell seemed to break loose. Screams of terror and pain rapidly began to fill the once quiet air as numerous roars of an unholy nature filled the brief gaps in-between them. Explosions of all sorts of sizes started to occur in quick succession as flashes of light lit up the darkness like bolts of lightning. Smoke and fires resulting from them could be seen spreading rapidly across the cityscape and the orangey glow from the flames kept the dimness at bay. Carnage and the cats looked towards the city centre where the chaos was coming from. From their elevated position they could see several shadows of monsters moving along the roof tops and even some that were partly illuminated by the flames of the fires around them.

"The Dark Kingdom is attacking the city." Artemis exclaimed.

"The Sailors are still gone which means the city is defenceless." Luna added.

"No … there is still someone left." Carnage announced as he stood up.

Both of the cats looked up at him knowing that he would be greatly outnumbered if he did decide to recklessly engage the attacking monster army on his own. They opened their mouths to announce their protests but quickly closed them when he flashed an intense and cold stare at them with his large white eyes. His expression sent chills down both of their spines as it told them that he needed to go out and unleash his rage on the monsters that took his beloved. His costume's red alien skin began to ripple across his body possibly because of the uncontrollable fury that was building up inside him.

Through the intense anger that dominated his mind he remembered what Rei had said to him just before they had left to go to the North Pole. He wondered for a brief second if she had seen the Dark Kingdom's attack on the city with her psychic ability or through her talents at fire reading. He shook his head to clear that tangent from his mind as it didn't matter. Regardless if she had known or not they had entrusted their city to him and he was going to honour that responsibility. Without saying a word he turned away from them and bent his knees in anticipation for a jump. Luna knew that it was pointless to try and stop him so she decided to do the only thing that she could.

"Carnage, good luck."

He looked over his shoulder at her and acknowledged his appreciation for the show of support with a quick nod of his head. He turned back to face the city and in a single leap he jumped to the next house and then the next one disappearing into the shadows as he headed towards the screams and mayhem.

Thousands of miles to the north the Sailors were desperately struggling to keep themselves from emotionally falling apart. Sailor Moon was down on her knees at the foot of a large jagged ice spire with the other Sailors standing around her. Near the top of the frozen tower was the body of Sailor Jupiter as it hung lifelessly from some of the spikes of ice.

Sailor Jupiter had been true to her nature and had gone down fighting. They had been ambushed by five feminine monsters shortly after arriving on the tundra. They had used illusions to draw the Sailors into their trap by creating visuals of people they cared about. When they had used an image of her friend Motoki she had briefly let her guard down and was thusly ensnared in their various tentacles. High above the ground the fiends had subjected her to repeated and increasingly lethal jolts of bioelectricity. In the second or two between the power surges she had still somehow managed to remember what Sean had taught her about channelling her own electric powers out through her body.

With her last bit of energy she summoned a massive bolt of lightning into her and sent it out through her skin into the tentacles of the monsters holding onto her. That single brave act caused a massive explosion as the energy was released which had managed to destroy two of the five monsters. When the smoke and debris cleared a few seconds later the sight of her friend's dying body on the newly created icy monument caused Sailor Moon to become emotionally broken as her will to fight drained completely from her body. High above them Sailor Jupiter had managed to find enough energy to call out to them. Around them, the freezing winds that had been blowing when they arrived had disappeared so her quiet and weak voice was able to be clearly heard.

"Everyone..."

"I'll get you out of there." Sailor Moon yelled up to her as she jumped to her feet and began to climb the jagged icy branches towards her.

"Go on. Hurry and get Beryl."

"No. We'll go together. You told us that you were going to have a full blown romance when this was over. You can't lie. The devil will tear out your tongue."

"There's no time to cry princess. So please cheer up."

Those were her final words as her body went completely limp as the last remnants of her life force finally left her body. The other Sailors became frozen in place as they all stared up at what was now their dear friend`s corpse. They were each trying and just barely being able to remain strong and not let the tremendous grief they were feeling inside overcome them. Sailor Moon on the other hand dropped down to her knees as her emotions overwhelmed her.

"Mako-chan! You can't. You can't die."

She began to cry hysterically before temporarily calming himself. She whimpered a few times and then was quiet. Everything around her seemed to fall away as the sudden loss of her dear friend made her body completely numb. She didn't feel the ice and snow underneath her bare knees as she continued to kneel. Around them, the cold temperature of the surrounding air was making her skin visibly dry as the beginnings of frost bite began to take effect. Despite the stinging feelings that she had to have been feeling she continued to quietly remain down on the ground.

"I think it would be better to give up the Silver Crystal. That's what I should've done from the beginning. Here, Queen Beryl. Take the Silver Crystal."

Her voice had started out as a whisper but became a loud scream as she jumped up to her feet and began to run in the direction that they had been heading. Sailors Mars and Venus reached out and physically stopped her as she completed her rant. She resumed her hysterical crying, her chest heaving from screaming. They couldn't understand her gibberish mutterings as she sank deeper into her sorrow. It was as if her brain had ceased to process anything other than pain and grief.

"Let go of me. It's the crystal's fault that Mako-chan was ..."

After a few seconds of her struggling against them Sailor Mercury finally had enough and in an unprecedented show of physical force she slapped Sailor Moon hard across the face.

Sailor Moon stumbled back about foot or so as she brought her hand to her face covering the spot where she had been struck. She looked up at Sailor Mercury with surprise at what she had just done. Her blue eyes' reflective gaze was asking her friend for the reason behind it. Sailor Mercury regained her usual timid demeanour as the remorse over her action took hold within her as she looked back at Sailor Moon.

"I'm sorry but please understand why I had to do that. Don't let Jupiter's death go to waste. We must go on."

Slowly, Sailor Moon's brain began to calm down and re-focus itself. They had to continue on for the sake of their fallen friend and for the rest of the world. Reluctantly Sailor Moon complied with her wishes and regained her composure. She stood upright as Sailor Venus and Mars let go of her before they continued to press forward. As they walked away Sailor Moon made a silent vow to herself that she would come back after the battle and give Mako-chan a proper burial.

Thousands of miles away and several minutes later it was absolute chaos back in the city. Fires were burning on almost every street corner and the mangled bodies of innocent people lay scattered about like autumn leaves everywhere you looked. There were monsters of every conceivable description in every direction. They were in the process of destroying everything they could and terrorizing whomever they could find. Carnage had leapt into the fray as soon as he had arrived and began his own campaign of terror as he gave into the anger, grief and rage that coursed through his veins. In the few short minutes since his arrival he had taken out seven monsters and left their savagely mauled bodies lay out behind him.

At this particular moment he was finishing the rescue of a mother and her young daughter from a humanoid-looking monster with lobster-like pincers. He grabbed the monster's head in his clawed hands and twisted it to the side with his symbiotic strength. The resulting snapping sound was loud enough to be heard over the chorus of mayhem around them. The monster's body went limp in his grip and crumbled down to the ground in a heap. Carnage lifted his head to look back at the woman and child to make sure that they were ok. They looked back at him with terror in their eyes. There was an awkward silence between them before she regained control of her body. She grabbed the arm of her daughter and turned to ran in the opposite direction. He watched them flee from either him or the monsters that were still in the vicinity until they rounded the corner of the alley and out of his sight.

The temporarily distraction of the citizens' departure left him open to attack from behind. His symbiote's warning came too late as he felt a massive pair of fists slam down across his upper back and caused him to stumble forward. The brute quickly followed up the surprise attack by tackling him to the ground. It pinned him down on the concrete floor of the alley using its entire body weight as it attempted to lean down and bite down on his throat like a feral jungle cat. He stared up at the fiend as he continued to struggle against it. His best physical description that he could muster was that it resembled a Viking warrior with the pair of horns that pointed upwards from its skull and the thick mass of reddish hair or fur that covered the lower part of its massive head. He had to get out of current position and back to his feet or he was finished. He quickly unleashed two razor sharp tendrils from the centre of his chest and extended them upwards passed the snarling face of the fiend. His tendrils morphed into a pair of smooth blades that proceeded to act like a pair of scissors as they cut the monster's head off at the neck. It fell down and bounced off the ground beside his head and out of sight. The rest of the body collapsed on top of him where he quickly pushed it off of him as he got back up onto his feet.

His symbiote was working overtime as it was constantly feeding him all kinds of information about what was going on around him such as innocent people in trouble or the location of the next monster. The amount of material it was giving him was making it difficult for him to think clearly as things and situations were constantly changing at a second's notice. Bloodlust was clouding his cognitive thought process but at the same time it was making it extremely hard for the people he did manage to save to realize that he was really on their side. Almost all of them had run off screaming at the first sight of him just like the mother and daughter which was understandable when one considered the events currently going on. It was nothing new to him as he was used to those kinds of reactions from people he encountered during his nomadic travels.

In his many years of service to the overall protection of planet Earth very few people had actually stopped to thank him when he helped or even saved them. The utter lack of gratitude from the populace was something that he couldn't worry about right now as he had to remain on the highest level of alert. This was the Sailors' city and they had entrusted its defence with him and he would not let them down under any circumstances even at the expense of his own death. He took in a deep breath as he scanned the area in front of him. When he found his next target he leapt back into the madness.

Back at the North Pole things had gone from bad to worse for the Sailors. Shortly after Sailor Jupiter's death Sailor Mercury had been killed after she had managed to destroy the magical gem that the leader of the monsters was using to create the illusions. Sailor Venus had been the next one to fall as she became caught in a trap that was meant for Sailor Moon. Even though she had still managed to destroy one of the monsters with her Crescent Beam she was still not able to avoid her death in the resulting explosion. Now it was just Sailor Mars and Sailor Moon left against the two remaining female monsters and the rest of the Dark Kingdom after that.

With Sailor Venus' frozen tower of ice still in view Sailor Mars and Sailor Moon decided to make their last stand against the remaining two monsters. When they appeared in front of them Sailor Mars ran ahead to meet them head on when they began their charge towards them. The monsters ploughed down into the ice on either side of her before she could launch her fire soul attack at them. For a few tense seconds there was no sound or movements to give her a clue as to what to expect from them. Then in an impossibly fast sequence of movements the ground underneath her burst upwards into the air and took her with it. Before she could react the ground opened up and literally swallowed her up. She was now trapped inside a newly formed mountain of frozen rock.

Sailor Moon looked on from her position several yards away. She was scared beyond her comprehension and on the brink of insanity as she waited anxiously for any sign that Sailor Mars was still alive somewhere inside the mount. Without any warning the ground behind her started to rumble and shake and she instinctively turned around to see what could be causing it. As her body completed its sideways twist she saw one of the monsters burst up from underneath the ice and propel itself upwards.

"Now I have you." It roared as it stopped its ascension and dove down at her.

Suddenly a fireball erupted from the mountain and completely vaporized the attacking monster instantly. Sailor Moon turned back around to look at the icy formation with a look of renewed hope in her blue eyes. From inside the hole left by the exiting fireball she could see numerous flashes of orangey light and heard both the last monster and Sailor Mars' voices as they fought. The verbal exchange lasted for only a minute before becoming quiet once again.

Sailor Moon nervously waited as her body resumed its trembling with fear. The mountain unexpectedly and violently exploded outward sending jagged pieces of rock and ice flying out in every direction. The last of the five monsters slowly floated upwards and as she ascended upwards she revealed that she was also carrying the body of Sailor Mars in its long tentacle arms underneath it. The sight of those long appendages filled her with a surge of paralyzing terror. They were the same whips that had killed both Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus right in front of her. It dropped Sailor Mars' body to the frozen ground but maintained her elevated position above Sailor Moon.

"Now the last one is the princess. Say your prayers." It hissed menacingly at her.

It began to float upwards again and Sailor Moon assumed that it was going to dive at her like the monster before it had tried. As it continued its ascension a hand grabbed one of its dangling tendrils and caused it to halt its skyward movement. Both the monster and Sailor Moon looked down and were surprised to see Sailor Mars, still with some life in her was the one that was holding onto the monster's tentacle.

"It's not over yet." was all that she said.

Before either the monster or Sailor Moon could react Sailor Mars launched an intense stream of fire from her hand that ran along the length of the whip and up into the monster which burned it to a cinder in less than three seconds.

"Sailor Mars," Sailor Moon screamed as the last remnants of the monster drifted down to the ground.

She rushed up to her fallen friend who was now slumped up against what was left of the ice mountain following the monster's violent eruption from it. She gave Sailor Moon a weak smile as her friend gently took hold of her hand. It was clear that she was going to die but she refused to give in to the fear of her impending death. With an expression of sadness on her face that she couldn't hide she whispered her final words.

"You were right. I should've kissed Yuichiro goodbye..."

Her head abruptly dropped with the last spoken word and the colour visibly drained from her face and exposed skin. Sailor Moon felt the cold chill inside her as she now realized that she was completely alone. She dropped down to both knees and began to cry hysterically again.

Back in the city, the tide was starting to turn in the battle for Tokyo and not for the better. The remaining hordes of monsters had gotten wise to Carnage's one man war against them and were now attacking him in waves. They were using their greater numbers to surround him and attack in swarms. He became a blur of movement as he fought against the seemingly endless waves of unholy abominations. Tendril spikes and organic lances lashed out in all directions from numerous points along his body. Axe blades sliced in wild arches as talons slashed through the air and hands twisted necks when they could get a grasp of one.

While the monsters may have had the numbers in their favour but they weren't big on strategy which worked to his advantage. He used his previous battle experiences to set them up and lure them in close to him where he could then take them out with a fatal strike that they couldn't avoid. He had to retreat a few times when the previous battle area wasn't working for him anymore. Each withdrawal was meant to keep the left over monsters from getting familiar with the terrain so that he could continue his strategy. He had to allow himself a small smile as the battle went on as the monsters decision to band together was actually making his job easier. Instead of having to look for them they were coming to him and allowing any surviving civilians still in the area to escape.

The evil aura that Luna and Artemis had been sensing since the skies had darkened was getting stronger with each passing second which was making them increasingly worried. Ever since Carnage had felt Sailor Jupiter's death through their mental connection and the beginning of the Dark Kingdom's attack on the city those concerns had grown at an alarmingly rate. They were aware that the sounds of destruction and chorus of noises that accompanied them had been progressively getting quieter which unnerved them a little. They both shared the same hope that it meant that Carnage was being successful in his defence of the city and not because the monsters had simply moved on to a new location. They looked up and scanned the skies and the cityscape as they continued to pray that their team would emerge victorious on both fronts without any further casualties.

On a distant cliff side at the top of the world Sailor Moon was sitting by herself. The ridge was a short distance away from Sailor Mars's final resting place and if she turned around she could see it. The precipice overlooked the steaming volcano that was serving as the Dark Kingdom's stronghold. The steaming crater was about two miles away from the base of the cliff and the dark smoke it emitting increased the ominous nature of it.

As she quietly sat there she contemplated giving up as the violent and tragic loss of her precious friends was too much for her to handle. Her feelings of lost, fear and terror made her believe that she couldn't fight any more let alone win against Queen Beryl especially not by herself. All the confidence she had had when they first arrived at D-Point had been stripped away leaving her empty and numb. Her head remained down on the tops of her bent knees as the tears cascaded down onto them from her face.

"Mako ... Ami ... Minako ... Rei ... I know. This is a dream. It's got to be. When I wake up they'll say 'Good morning' and Rei will call me names like 'Clumsy Usagi' and everyone will be alright."

As she sat there completely lost in her despair, she felt a warm sensation on her right shoulder. She turned at the first feeling of the sensation and was shocked to see Sailor Jupiter looking back at her. Only it wasn't Sailor Jupiter and she was almost completely transparent and when she spoke her voice sounded like a distant echo.

'It was her ghost. No that was the wrong word. Ghosts were scary. This was her spirit.' Sailor Moon thought to herself.

As she looked at her she noticed that Sailor Mercury, Venus and Mars were also there behind her. Like Sailor Jupiter, they were also spirits.

"Come on … cheer up. You need to focus and not give up hope. You are not alone. You will never be alone. We will always be with you." They collectively told her in voices that warmed her heart.

"Get up and keep fighting. We believe in you." They added after a short pause.

Sailor Moon gave them a sad smile and nodded her head once. She was beyond happy that she had been able to see her friends again one last time and their words of encouragement had filled her back up with the strength and determination that she had lost.

With one final look at them she turned around and started to run down the side of the cliff towards the steaming volcano. She was going to end this now and avenge her friends by destroying the Dark Kingdom once and for all.

"Ami, Rei, Mako, Minako. I'll fight to the very end."

She reached the volcano's base about thirty minutes later. As she studied the exterior walls of it and tried to determine the best way inside or even a spot that she could climb up so she could enter from the top of the open crater a red sphere of energy blasted into her from behind and transported her into the internal chambers of the base. When the orb let her go a few seconds later she found herself inside the throne room of Queen Beryl.

"I welcome you, Princess. I am amazed to see you reach here. I commend you."

"Queen Beryl?"

"Yes, I am Queen Beryl."

As she and Sailor Moon stared each other down the dim lighting in the throne room shifted to the right to reveal that a third person was present in the room with them. Sailor Moon's eyes widen with shock as the third person was shown to be Prince Endymion. He was kneeling beside Queen Beryl as he kissed the top of her right hand.

"Endymion, kill the Princess." She commanded never taking her eyes off of Sailor Moon.

"As you wish."

He stood up and turned to face Sailor Moon. In a lightning fast motion he jumped high into the air and withdrew his sword as he sailed through the air. He swung it down at her as he approached and she was just barely able to log roll out of the way as the tip of the sword impacted on the spot where her chest had been. Using the opportunity that she now had Sailor Moon used her Crescent Moon Wand's magic to restore him as it had a couple of week earlier.

"Moon Healing Escalation."

"That is useless. You are still not a full-fledged princess. Even if you use the Silver Crystal, you will not be able to remove Metalia's dark energy from Endyimon's body. Stop doing futile things and give me the Silver Crystal."

Sailor Moon refused to believe the evil queen's words but as her attack continued and Prince Endyimon remained motionless but still staring at her through the cascade of bright lights with an ice cold expression she couldn't deny it any longer. She didn't want to fight him and she honestly believed that she couldn't even if she was forced to. She loved him too much and didn't want to cause him any form of pain.

Prince Endyimon seemed to have no such hesitations. He again jumped up into the air breaking through the wand's attack force and landed beside Sailor Moon. As soon as his feet touched the stone floor he swung his sword in a horizontal slice that was meant to cut her in half. She saw his leap and followed him until he landed. When he began to swing his weapon she awkwardly fell backwards from her kneeling position to land onto her back.

"Sailor Moon … Die."

He magically produced a black rose from the thin air in front of him and casually tossed it at her. When the flower touched her it transformed into numerous vines that tightly wrapped her firmly pinning her arms to her sides. Almost instantly the restraints began to shock her with electricity. The surges did not stop but continued in one long excruciating jolt. Prince Endyimon stood by and watched as Queen Beryl maleficently laughed.

After about a minute the unspeakably brutal assault mercifully ended. The vines disappeared and she backwards with a painful thud as the attack had sapped almost all of her strength. He casually approached her and she weakly called out to him using his civilian name in the hope that it would touch the gentle heart she knew was still inside him somewhere. He stopped at the sound of her voice and for a brief second she thought it had worked. It was at that point that he kicked her hard on the side of the ribs and propelled her up into the air and away from him.

He walked up to the spot where she had landed and reached down. He tightly griped her throat and lifted her up with his left arm. Using the enhanced strength granted to him by the dark energy of Queen Metalia he held her off the ground with one arm. He began to shock her with magical power as he stared up at her with his cold blue eyes and for the first time a small smirk across his lips.

"Soon, the sun will be covered entirely by sunspots and Queen Metalia will be revived." Queen Beryl arrogantly stated as she watched the Prince's assault. She let the attack continue for a few seconds more.

"That's enough, Endyimon."

At his queen's words, he stopped the power shock and threw her to the ground about five feet away from him. Sailor Moon landed on her stomach with the side of her head striking the stone floor stunning her for a few seconds. Queen Beryl smiled smugly as she watched the young girl that had been a thorn in her side for the past year lying battered and beaten in front of her.

"Cut off the Princess' head."

Prince Endyimon stood over her and looked at her with a look of smug contempt. Sailor Moon saw the Crescent Moon Wand just a few inches away from her outstretched hand. She shifted her head so that her eyes were looking at it. Queen Beryl saw that small gesture and couldn't help herself as she threw more proverbial salt on the young girl's dire situation.

"It's no use. Soon, Queen Metalia will be revived. When she fills this world with her dark energy by using the Silver Crystal, she is certain to utilize its power to the maximum. Everything you have been doing will have been meaningless."

Queen Beryl's last statement struck a chord within Sailor Moon. The memories of Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars' bodies laid out on the ice fields somewhere above her flashed across her brain. Sailor Mercury's words played loudly inside her mind as well. She had to keep fighting for them, for Earth and most importantly, for herself.

She closed her outstretched arm's hand into a tight fist as she felt a new surge of fierce determination course through her. She reached up to her forehead and used her tiara attack to physically weaken Prince Endyimon as he raised his sword above his head to deliver the killing blow. The glowing flat discus struck him in the solar plexus just below his rib cage. The effect was immediate as it knocked the brainwashed prince back a few steps before collapsing down to the ground on his stomach. He lay motionless for a few seconds and she instantly felt sadness at having been forced to such desperate measures. The reprieve in the battle was temporary as Prince Endyimon regained consciousness and staggered up to his feet again using his sword like a crutch since his body was still recovering from the impact of the powerful energy disc to his mid-section. He raised his sword again as his body visibly shook from the instability it was still suffering from. With nothing else left Sailor Moon tried one last thing. It was a desperate gamble but she had nothing to lose anymore. If this didn't work he was going to kill her, it was just that simple.

She produced the star locket that she had given to him on the last day of the Moon Kingdom so long ago. She opened it up and allowed the soft lullaby music to fill the deathly quiet throne room. It was the symbol of their love for each other and their pledge to be devoted to each other for all eternity. This was her last attempt to reach the Prince.

"Please. Remember? I'm Serenity. We swore eternal love to each other. I'm Serenity of the Moon Kingdom."

"Anyone who opposes the Dark Kingdom must die."

"You are only influenced by evil energy. Please, return to your old gentle self. I can't stand it anymore. I don't want to fight with you. Please?"

The musical melody and the look of love and innocence in her blue eyes touched something deep within him. The small smile that accompanied her glazed eye expression softened his ice cold exterior and he slowly lowered his sword. He reached out and touched the locket with the fingertips of his left hand. Almost instantly his body became engulfed in a pure white light that purged the dark energy from within him and finally freed him from the Dark Kingdom's thrall. A cascade of memories flashed through his mind the moments he had shared with her back in the Moon Kingdom and the struggles of the past year against the Dark Kingdom. He dropped his sword to the ground beside him and fell down to his knees. Sailor Moon reached out and held him in a gentle embrace of concern and affection.

"Usagi … Thank you." He said softly as he looked up at her.

"I am so glad." She replied back.

She could express how much she meant that. She had been waiting months for him to look at her like that and to hear his actual voice speak to her that wasn't tainted by the Dark Kingdom's influence. Her embrace became a full hug as she wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"I will not forgive you, Princess trying to steal Endyimon from me again."

She created a large black crystal spike and threw it at the Prince and Sailor Moon. In a flash of movement Prince Endyimon threw a single red rose which sliced through the crystalline projectile and impaled itself in Queen Beryl's chest. The multiple shards of black ice continued on their path and headed towards Prince Endyimon and Sailor Moon. He instinctively threw his body over hers to act as a shield. The shards struck him in the back in several locations, mortally wounding him.

"No! Mamoru, hang in there." Sailor Moon screamed as she witnessed his brave and noble act underneath him.

She rolled him over onto his back not caring if the projectiles still in his back were pushed further into him. She rested his upper body on the top of her legs as she kneeled down onto the ground. He looked up at her and gave her a small smile.

"Hurry … get out of here. Go back to being an ordinary girl and find a new boyfriend."

"But Mamoru, you're the best."

As the Prince died in her arms Queen Beryl melted into the floor and escaped to Queen Metalia's chamber. The Prince's counterattack had weakened her to the point where she could not stand. It felt like the rose still embedded in her chest was sapping her energy like a leech. She refused to accept that idea that Prince Endyimon's love for Sailor Moon was what was destroying her body now but as her physical strength continued to leave her she had to do something now. She was so weak when she materialized in the royal chamber that she could only kneel before the pod that contained Queen Metalia's amorphous essence. From her position down on the ground she pleaded with her master to help her.

"Your Majesty, Metalia, lend me your power to defeat that accursed girl."

"Very well. The time has come to fill all life forms in the universe with hatred and greed. Queen Beryl, you will destroy all and cover the world with shadow."

With that final decree Queen Metallia broke free of her containment pod and infused all of her essence into Queen Beryl's body. The end result of this union made Beryl the physical embodiment of Queen Metalia and caused her to grow to an enormous size.

Back in Japan Usagi's family cowered near an upstairs window as they were all afraid at what the sudden darkness and the signs and sounds of destruction in the city that they could see from their vantage point meant. Suddenly without warning all the electricity and power across the city went out in a total blackout, making the area even darker than it had been. On the roof above them Luna and Artemis feared the worst as to what the blackout could signify.

"It's the end. The world has come to an end. The dark energy of Queen Metalia has been released." Artemis announced out loud.

"At this rate Usagi might release the full power of the Silver Crystal. If she does, she'll die, just like Queen Serenity."

"I know. But there's no other way to save the world now."

"Don't do it Usagi. Don't release the power of the Silver Crystal. If you do, you'll die." Luna screamed into the deathly still night air.

In the city's downtown core the monsters that still remained seemed to sense that something major had just happened back at their base. They collectively stopped their murderous rampage and began to teleport away one by one. In the span of only a few minutes Carnage found himself alone among the still burning fires and piles of broken glass and building debris. He morphed his arms back into their normal humanoid shapes and allowed his body to relax as the adrenaline coursing through his body starting to cease and dissipate.

He soon began to feel the after effects of his relentless efforts to defend the city as his muscles underneath his alien costume began to ache and the cuts from his various opponents' claws that had managed to make it through his symbiote's thick hide. As he surveyed the area around him he looked for any Dark Kingdom stragglers. Seeing no signs of any monster or disturbances he tilted his head upwards so that he was looking at the dark sky above him. He silently began to hope that Sailor Moon and the others had been triumphant and that the monsters' unexpected departure was them scurrying back to a sinking ship and not a victory celebration.

In the throne room underneath the frozen ice fields of the North Pole Sailor Moon laid the body of her beloved Prince Endymion down on the cold stone floor. She leaned down with the intention to kiss his lips for their one and only embrace. She got too within a couple of inches of touching them when she stopped herself. A sad smile crossed her lips as she looked down at him.

"Forgive me. I can't kiss you. Rei, Ami, Mako, Minako all died without kissing the boys they loved. So I cannot allow myself that joy. There's something I need to do. Please watch me. I'll do my best."

She stood up and left his body as she made her way through the tunnels of the base to the frozen ice sheets outside. She saw the massive form of Queen Beryl as it towered over her in the centre of a large purple flower pod next to the volcano that marked the location of the Dark Kingdom's base.

With a clear sense of determination she swiftly approached the towering witch with a stride that was filled with a feeling of confidence that she hadn't had before now. Queen Beryl now calling herself Super Beryl, sensed her approach and turned around to face her. She towered over her and stared at her with a look of supreme arrogance and contempt. Her purple dress was now the colour of blood and her long wavy red hair was now green and stood straight up.

"There you are princess. This time you will die."

She threw her arms forward and black lightning erupted from her fingertips. The lightning arched its way through the air as it headed directly for the spot where Sailor Moon stood. The black energy blasts hit her directly and caused a massive cloud of smoke and debris to be kicked up which obscured Super Beryl's view of the area. A large jagged ice tower began to rise up from the point of impact. It was like the ones that Sailor Jupiter and Venus had ended up in following their deaths at the hands of the group of feminine monsters. The tower continued to grow to a height of one hundred feet before it stopped its ascent.

As the flash of light began to dim Super Beryl was taken aback with total surprise when the top of the ice tower split open to reveal Usagi, now dressed as Princess Serenity, princess of the moon, in her long flowing white empire dress. In her hands she held the Crescent Moon Wand. Her eyes were closed which gave her the appearance that she was praying.

An epic battle then ensued as Princess Serenity raised the wand over her head which prompted Super Beryl to unleash more black lightning at her. It became evident that both sides were evenly matched as neither side could break through the other's attack or defence. The awesome force generated by their stalemate caused portions of the ice tower to break away as well large sections of the surrounding area to be whipped up and sail passed them like shrapnel. Princess Serenity ignored the painful sensations as she felt the pieces graze her as she summoned all the power of the Silver Crystal but it still wasn't enough to turn the tide in her favour. Super Beryl decided to taunt her in the hope that it would break the princess' concentration and allow her defences to falter enough for her lightning to break through and incinerate her.

"Why? Why continue to struggle against me? Even if you dream of a beautiful future, you will soon realize the truth. This world is foul and corrupt."

"No. I have faith." Princess Serenity countered back.

"In love? In friendship? In trust?"

"I have faith in this world that everybody tried to defend."

"Fool. There is nothing to have faith in in this loathsome world."

Princess Serenity chose not to respond to Super Beryl's comment. She instead closed her eyes again and focused all of her energy into her mental plea.

_Please. Please, Silver Crystal. Let me believe in the world everybody believed in._

She kept her eyes closed and thought of each of her friends. She recalled brief verbal exchanges or encounters with each of them that summed up her friendship with them. The subject of each of the memories was not relevant to her current situation but just seeing her friends again if only in her mind, filled her with even more inner strength. The final image that played across her mind was of Sean as he sat on the hill side overlooking the lake. The words he had said to her that fateful day rang loud and clear inside her head.

"The natural beauty that this planet can give us, it helps remind me what we are fighting to preserve." As that last memory faded from her mind she silently asked all of her friends for help.

"Everyone…. everyone, lend me your strength … please."

One by one the spirits of the Sailors appeared around her. They each reached out and grasped the handle of the Crescent Moon Wand as they added their power to hers.

Back in the city in a way that he did not fully understand, Carnage felt Princess Serenity's cry for help. A part of him told him that it had to be through the mental connection to Sailor Jupiter he possessed because of their pure love for each other that they shared. He was more than a little surprised that it had extended to include Sailor Moon as well but now was not the time to wander about such insignificant things. His dear friend was asking for help and he was going to answer it in whatever way he could.

He jumped from his position down on the street to the nearest building. He sank the claws on his hands and feet into the brick and mortar of its side and quickly moved upwards until he scaled over the edge and onto the roof. He then leapt from the edge to come to a crouching position on his hands and feet on top of a small structure that covered the stairwell that provided rooftop access to the building's occupants.

He turned his body to face the north in a reflexive and futile attempt to try to catch a glimpse of the battle he knew was occurring right now somewhere off in that direction. He closed his large solid white eyes as he mentally called up an image of Usagi and their friends, to assist him in focusing his internal spiritual energy. As he let his body completely relax and fall into a state of dormancy he ever so slightly felt his strength drift out from his body along the astral plane as it began its long journey to where it was currently needed.

Princess Serenity felt the sudden influx of new energy as well as the auras of all of her friends inside her. When she felt Carnage's energy and presence within her she mentally willed the different sources of energy to come together and form a massive black and pink flashing sphere of incredible power.

"What is this?" Super Beryl exclaimed with a clear tone of fear in her voice as she watched the creation of the gigantic and awesome looking orb.

"Moon Prism Power." Princess Serenity screamed as the power sphere finished materializing.

The sphere launched forward at Super Beryl who kept her arms out in front of her and tried to blast it with her dark energy in the futile hope of stopping it. The massive orb of energy was not affected at all by her onslaught and hit her head on. The sphere did not detonate on contact but rather phased through her body and as the orb passed through her her body disintegrated instantly, starting with her outstretched arms and continuing to the rest of her body until nothing was left. Once it completed its trek through Super Beryl the sphere continued on along its path and remained in sight for miles until it disappeared over the horizon and its intense shine faded away into the darkness.

With Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia both destroyed the Dark Kingdom was no more. The spirits of the Sailor soldiers disappeared and Carnage's astral projection returned to his body leaving Princess Serenity all by herself once again. The sudden loss of her friends' energy caused her to collapse backwards as her body began to suffer from the effects of extreme physical exhaustion. Her white dress reverting back to Sailor Moon's uniform as she fell down.

"Everyone ... thank you."

With that final whisper her neck became limp and her head fell back against the top of the jagged ice spire. Her eyes slowly closed as the last of her life force drained from her body the physical toll from using the Silver Crystal being too much for her young body to handle.

The Silver Crystal continued to remain active though and the energy she had unleashed continued to build into a large dome of flashing black and pink lights that was rapidly expanding outwards. It completely encompassed the nearby volcano and everything inside it extending down into Queen Beryl's former throne room. It spread out along the surrounding fields of snow and ice and engulfed the final resting places of the fallen Sailor soldiers starting with Sailor Mars and ending with Sailor Jupiter. It even expanded out into outer space where the entire top of the planet became illuminated by the aura of the pink energy cupola.

As the body of Sailor Moon lay still on the flat surface on top of the ice tower the force of the energy from the Silver Crystal began to cause the spire to rapidly crumble underneath her. At the same time the massive energy output from the crystal caused her to temporarily regain some higher brain functions like a jolt from a defibrillator to a person's heart or a jump from one car battery to another.

As her consciousness became somewhat self-aware she silently made one final wish before the crystal's power left her and returned her to the abyss of death.

_I wake up in the morning, the white lace curtains sway in the breeze. My clock chirps that it's 7:00am. _

_'If you sleep any longer, you'll be late,' mama cries out. _

_I nod off thinking, 'Just let me sleep 3 more minutes. _

_ I'm late, just like every other day. My teacher makes me stand in the hall, I fail another test. On the way home from school, I eat crepes with my friends. A party dress decorating a show window catches my eye. _

_ Even the little things, make me happy. It's that ordinary life I want back. I want that back._

With one final flash, the pink energy began to finally dim slowly. The shadows that had been pushed back by the intense light energy slowly crept back into their original places. The black clouds that had dominated the skies for the majority of the night began to break apart and allow the crescent shaped moon to once again shine down on the city of Tokyo and the people of Earth. The stars reappeared and resumed their twinkling as they offered a visual symbol of relief to the people who saw them. The danger that had griped them for the past several hours had finally past and the world was safe once again. It was a cruel and tragic irony that no one save for a select few individuals would ever know the sacrifices made by the true heroes of this night to deliver this gift to them.

End of Chapter 8 …


	10. The Darkest Hour

Chapter Nine: The Darkest Hour

On a distant cliff side at the top of the world Sailor Moon was sitting by herself. The ridge was a short distance away from Sailor Mars's final resting place and if she turned around she could see it. The precipice overlooked the steaming volcano that was serving as the Dark Kingdom's stronghold. The steaming crater was about two miles away from the base of the cliff and the dark smoke it emitted increased the ominous nature of it.

As she sat there she quietly contemplated giving up, as the violent and tragic loss of her precious friends was too much for her to handle. Her feelings of loss, fear and terror made her believe that she couldn't fight any more, let alone win against Queen Beryl, especially by herself. All the confidence she had had when they first arrived at D-Point had been stripped away leaving her empty and numb. Her head remained down on the tops of her bent knees as the tears cascaded down onto them from her face.

_Mako ... Ami ... Minako ... Rei ... I know. This is a dream. It's got to be. When I wake up they'll say 'Good morning', and Rei will call me names like 'Clumsy Usagi' and everyone will be alright._

As she sat there completely lost in her despair, she felt a warm sensation on her right shoulder. She turned at the first feeling of it and was shocked to see Sailor Jupiter looking back at her. Only it wasn't really Sailor Jupiter, she was almost completely transparent and when she spoke her voice sounded like a distant echo.

_It is her ghost. No, that's the wrong word. Ghosts are scary. This is her spirit.' _Sailor Moon thought to herself. As she looked at Sailor Jupiter, she noticed that Sailors Mercury, Venus and Mars were also there behind her. Like Sailor Jupiter, they were also spirits.

"Come on … cheer up. You need to focus and not give up hope. You are not alone. You will never be alone. We will always be with you." They collectively told her in voices that warmed her heart.

"Get up and keep fighting. We believe in you." They added after a short pause.

Sailor Moon gave them a sad smile and nodded her head once. She was beyond happy that she had been able to see her friends again one last time and their words of encouragement had filled her back up with the strength and determination that she needed.

With one final look at them she turned around and started to run down the side of the cliff towards the steaming volcano. She was going to end this now and avenge her friends by destroying the Dark Kingdom once and for all.

"Ami, Rei, Mako, Minako! I'll fight to the very end!"

She reached the volcano's base about thirty minutes later. As she studied the exterior walls of it and tried to determine the best way inside or even a spot that she could climb up so she could enter from the top of the open crater a red sphere of energy blasted into her from behind and transported her into the internal chambers of the base. When the orb let her go a few seconds later she found herself inside the throne room of Queen Beryl.

"I welcome you, Princess. I am amazed to see you reach here. I commend you."

"Queen Beryl?"

"Yes, I am Queen Beryl."

As she and Sailor Moon stared each other down the dim lighting in the throne room shifted to the right to reveal that a third person was present in the room with them. Sailor Moon's eyes widen with shock as the third person was shown to be Prince Endymion. He was kneeling beside Queen Beryl as he kissed the top of her right hand.

"Endymion, kill the Princess." She commanded never taking her eyes off of Sailor Moon.

"As you wish." Endymion stood up and turned to face Sailor Moon. In a lightning fast motion he jumped high into the air and withdrew his sword. He swung it down at her as he approached and she was just barely able to log roll out of the way as the tip of the sword impacted on the spot where her chest had been. Using the opportunity that she now had Sailor Moon used her Crescent Moon Wand's magic to restore him as it had a couple of week earlier.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

"That is useless. You are still not a full-fledged princess. Even if you use the Silver Crystal, you will not be able to remove Metalia's dark energy from Endyimon's body. Stop doing futile things and give me the Silver Crystal." Queen Beryl's words were harsh and impatient.

Sailor Moon refused to believe the evil queen's words but as her attack continued and Prince Endymion remained motionless staring at her through the cascade of bright lights with an ice cold expression, she couldn't deny it any longer. She didn't want to fight him and she honestly believed that she couldn't even if she was forced to. She loved him too much and didn't want to cause him any form of pain.

Prince Endymion seemed to have no such hesitations. He again jumped up into the air breaking through the wand's attack force and landing beside Sailor Moon. As soon as his feet touched the stone floor he swung his sword in a horizontal slice that was meant to cut her in half. She saw his leap and followed him until he landed. When he began to swing his weapon she awkwardly fell backwards from her kneeling position to land onto her back.

"Sailor Moon … Die."

He magically produced a black rose from the thin air in front of him and casually tossed it at her. When the flower touched her it transformed into numerous vines that tightly wrapped her firmly pinning her arms to her sides. Almost instantly the restraints began to shock her with electricity. The surges did not stop but continued in one long excruciating jolt. Prince Endymion stood by and watched as Queen Beryl laughed malevolently.

After about a minute the unspeakably brutal assault mercifully ended. The vines disappeared and Sailor Moon fell backwards with a painful thud as the attack had sapped her of almost all of her strength. Prince Endymion casually approached her and she weakly called out to him using his civilian name, Mamoru, in the hope that it would touch the gentle heart she hoped was still inside him. He stopped at the sound of her voice and for a brief second she thought it had worked. It was at that point that he kicked her hard on the side of the ribs and propelled her up into the air and away from him.

He walked up to the spot where Sailor Moon had landed and reached down. He tightly griped her throat and lifted her up with his left arm. Using the enhanced strength granted to him by the dark energy of Queen Metalia he held her off the ground with one arm. He began to shock her with magical power as he stared up at her with his cold blue eyes and for the first time a small smirk across his lips.

"Soon, the sun will be covered entirely by sunspots and Queen Metalia will be revived." Queen Beryl arrogantly stated as she watched the Prince's assault. She let the attack continue for a few seconds more.

"That's enough, Endymion."

At his queen's words, he stopped the power shock and threw Sailor Moon to the ground about five feet away from him. She landed on her stomach with the side of her head striking the stone floor, stunning her. Queen Beryl smiled smugly as she looked at the young girl that had been a thorn in her side for the past year lying battered and beaten in front of her.

"Cut off the Princess' head."

Prince Endymion stood over her and looked at her with a look of smug contempt. Sailor Moon saw the Crescent Moon Wand just a few inches away from her outstretched hand. She shifted her head just enough so that her eyes were looking at it. Queen Beryl saw that small gesture and couldn't help herself as she poured more proverbial salt on the wound that is the young girl's dire situation.

"It's no use. Soon, Queen Metalia will be revived. When she fills this world with her dark energy by using the Silver Crystal, she is certain to utilize its power to the maximum. Everything you have been doing will have been meaningless."

Queen Beryl's last statement struck a chord with Sailor Moon. The images of Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars' bodies laying out on the ice fields somewhere above her flashed across her brain. Sailor Mercury's words played loudly inside her mind as well. She had to keep fighting for them, for Earth and most importantly, for herself.

She closed her outstretched hand into a tight fist as she felt a new surge of fierce determination course through her. She reached up to her forehead and used her tiara attack to physically weaken Prince Endymion just as he raised his sword above his head to deliver the killing blow. The glowing flat discus struck him in the solar plexus just above his rib cage. The effect was immediate as it knocked the brainwashed prince back a few steps before he collapsed forward to the ground on his stomach. He lay motionless for a few seconds and Sailor Moon instantly felt sadness at having been forced to such desperate measures. The reprieve in the battle was temporary though, as Prince Endymion regained consciousness and staggered up to his feet again using his sword like a crutch. His body was still recovering from the impact of the powerful energy disc to his mid-section and as he raised his sword again his body visibly shook from the instability it was still suffering from. With nothing left to lose Sailor Moon tried one last thing. It was a desperate gamble. If this didn't work, Endymion was going to kill her, it was just that simple.

She produced the star locket that she had given to him on the last day of the Moon Kingdom so long ago. During one of the battles with the carriers of the Rainbow crystals, Sailor Moon had found it after Tuxedo Mask dropped it as he was trading blows with the monster. The locket had turned out to be a music box and the tune that played whenever it was opened always caused a warm stirring in her heart that she could never explain. When her true identity as Princess Serenity had been revealed, the memory of when she had given the star locket to Prince Endymion all those centuries ago returned to her. If there was ever a way to free him of the Dark Kingdom's influence, this had to be it. She opened it up and allowed the soft lullaby music to fill the deathly quiet throne room. It was the symbol of their love for each other and their pledge to be devoted to each other for all eternity. This was her last attempt to reach the Prince.

"Please. Remember? I'm Serenity. We swore eternal love to each other. I'm Serenity of the Moon Kingdom."

"Anyone who opposes the Dark Kingdom must die."

"You are only influenced by evil energy. Please, return to your old gentle self. I can't stand it anymore. I don't want to fight with you. Please?"

The musical melody and the look of love and innocence in her blue eyes touched something deep within Endymion. The small smile that accompanied her glassy and watery eyes as she radiated the love that she had for him, softened his ice cold exterior and he slowly lowered his sword. He reached out and touched the locket with the fingertips of his left hand. Almost instantly his body became engulfed in a pure white light that purged the dark energy from within him and finally freed him from the Dark Kingdom's thrall. Thick rays of light shot outwards from his body from several places, like he was exploding from within. He screamed out as his mind and body heaved and twitched as the invading magical energy fought with the dark power that already resided there. A cascade of memories flashed through his mind—all the moments he had shared with the princess back in the Moon Kingdom and the struggles of the past year against the Dark Kingdom. Just as quickly as the white and yellow light had engulfed his body, it faded before disappearing. He dropped his sword to the ground beside him and fell down to his knees. Sailor Moon reached out and held him in a gentle embrace of concern and affection.

"Usagi … Thank you." He said softly as he looked up at her.

"Mamo-chan, I am so glad you are back." She replied.

She couldn't express how much she meant those words Usagi had been waiting months for Mamoru to look at her like that and to hear his actual voice speak to her that wasn't tainted by the Dark Kingdom's influence. Her embrace became a full hug as she wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"I will not forgive you, Princess for trying to steal Endymion from me again." Queen Beryl's threat broke their reverie. Using her dark magic, she created a large black crystal spike and threw it at the Prince and Sailor Moon. In a flash of movement Prince Endymion threw a single red rose which sliced through the crystalline projectile and impaled itself in Queen Beryl's chest. The now multiple shards of black ice continued on their path and headed towards Prince Endymion and Sailor Moon. The prince instinctively threw his body over his princess to act as a shield. The shards struck him in the back in several locations, mortally wounding him.

"No! Mamoru, hang in there!", Sailor Moon screamed as she witnessed his brave and noble act underneath him.

Queen Beryl dropped to her knees as the effects of the floral dagger continued to take effect on her.

"Is Endyimon's love for that girl destroying my body? I won't accept it. I will never accept it!" she angrily declared out loud as she melted into the floor and escaped to Queen Metalia's chamber. The Prince's counterattack had weakened her to the point where she could no longer stand. It felt like the rose still embedded in her chest was sapping her energy like a leech. She refused to accept the idea that Prince Endymion's love for Sailor Moon was primarily what was destroying her body now, but as her physical strength continued to leave her she had to do something. She was so weak when she materialized in the royal chamber that she could only crawl before the pod that contained Queen Metalia's amorphous essence. From her position down on the ground she pleaded with her master to help her.

"Your Majesty, Metalia, lend me your power to defeat that accursed girl."

"Very well. The time has come to fill all life forms in the universe with hatred and greed. Queen Beryl, you will destroy all and cover the world with shadow."

With that final decree Queen Metalia broke free of her containment pod and infused all of her essence into Queen Beryl's body. The end result of this union made Beryl the physical embodiment of Queen Metalia and caused her to grow to an enormous size.

Sailor Moon rolled Prince Endymion over onto his back, not caring if the projectiles still in his back were pushed further into him, the damage was already done and every other part of her knew it even if her heart refused to believe it. She rested his upper body on the top of her legs as she knelt down onto the ground. He looked up at her and gave her a small smile.

"Hurry … get out of here. Go back to being an ordinary girl and find a new boyfriend."

"But Mamoru, you're the best."

Prince Endyimon looked at her and smiled weakly at her kind words. It lasted only a second before his head slumped to the side as the last life force left his body. Sailor Moon looked down at her love, immediately taking in what had just happened. Her eyes filled with tears and her blood ran cold in her veins. Her heart seemingly stopped beating in her chest and every fiber of her soul became frozen with sadness.

"Mam … Mamoru!" she wailed as she threw her arms around his neck and cradled his body against hers. She screamed and cried in agony, her voice echoing off the stone walls of the empty throne room.

As her Prince died in her arms...

In Japan, Usagi's family cowered near an upstairs window as they were all afraid of what the sudden darkness and the sounds of destruction in the city that they could see from their vantage point meant. Suddenly, the electricity and power across the city went out in a total blackout, making the area even darker than it had been. On the roof above them Luna and Artemis feared the worst as to what the blackout could signify.

"It's the end. The world has come to an end. The dark energy of Queen Metalia has been released." Artemis announced out loud.

"At this rate Usagi might have no choice but to release the full power of the Silver Crystal. If she does, she'll die, just like Queen Serenity," countered Luna.

"I know. But there's no other way to save the world now", Artemis responded.

"Don't do it Usagi! Don't release the power of the Silver Crystal! If you do, you'll die!" Luna screamed into the still night air.

In the city's downtown core, the monsters that still remained seemed to sense that something major had just happened back at their base. They collectively stopped their murderous rampage and began to teleport away one by one. In the span of only a few minutes Carnage found himself alone among the still burning fires and piles of broken glass and building debris. He morphed his arms back into their normal humanoid shapes and allowed his body to relax as the adrenaline coursing through his body starting to cease and dissipate.

He soon began to feel the after effects of his relentless efforts to defend the city as the muscles underneath his alien costume and the cuts from his various opponents' claws that had managed to make it through his symbiote's thick hide began to ache. As he surveyed the area around him he looked for any Dark Kingdom stragglers. Seeing no signs of any monster or disturbances he tilted his head upwards to the dark sky. He silently began to hope that Sailor Moon and the others had been triumphant and that the monsters' unexpected departure was them scurrying back to a sinking ship and not a victory celebration.

In the throne room underneath the frozen ice fields of the North Pole, Sailor Moon laid the body of her beloved Prince Endymion down on the cold stone floor. She leaned down with the intention to kiss his lips for their one and only embrace. She got to within a couple of inches of touching them when she stopped herself. A sad smile crossed her lips as she looked down at him.

"Forgive me. I can't kiss you. Rei, Ami, Makoto, and Minako all died without kissing the boys they loved. So I cannot allow myself that joy. There's something I need to do. Please watch me. I'll do my best." She stood up and left him as she made her way through the tunnels of the base to the frozen ice sheets outside. She saw the massive form of Queen Beryl. She towered over all in the centre of a large purple flower pod next to the volcano that marked the location of the Dark Kingdom's base.

With a clear sense of determination Sailor Moon swiftly approached the towering witch with a stride that was filled with a confidence that she had not felt before now. Queen Beryl, now calling herself Super Beryl, sensed her approach and turned around to face her. She stared down at her with a look of supreme arrogance and contempt. Her purple dress was now the colour of blood and her long wavy red hair was now green and stood straight up.

"There you are, Princess. This time you will die." She threw her arms forward and black lightning erupted from her fingertips. The lightning arched its way through the air and headed directly for the spot where Sailor Moon stood. The black energy blasts hit Sailor Moon directly and caused a massive cloud of smoke and debris to be kicked up, obscuring Super Beryl's view of the area. A large jagged ice tower began to rise up from the point of impact. It was like the ones that Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus had ended up in following their deaths at the hands of the group of feminine monsters. This tower continued to grow to a height of one hundred feet before it stopped its ascent.

As the flash of light began to dim Super Beryl was taken aback when the top of the ice tower split open to reveal Usagi, now dressed as Princess Serenity, princess of the moon, in her long flowing white empire dress. In her hands she held the Crescent Moon Wand. Her eyes were closed which gave the appearance that she was praying.

Princess Serenity raised the wand over her head, prompting Super Beryl to unleash more black lightning. It quickly became evident that both sides were evenly matched as neither side could break through the other's attack or defence. The awesome force generated by their stalemate caused portions of the ice tower to break away as well large sections of the surrounding area to be whipped up and sail past them like shrapnel. Princess Serenity ignored the painful sensations of pieces grazing her as she summoned all the power of the Silver Crystal but it still wasn't enough to turn the tide in her favour. Super Beryl used taunts in the hope that it would break the princess' concentration and allow her defences to falter enough for her lightning to break through and incinerate her.

"Why? Why continue to struggle against me? Even if you dream of a beautiful future, you will soon realize the truth. This world is foul and corrupt."

"No! I have faith." Princess Serenity countered back.

"In love? In friendship? In trust?"

"I have faith in this world that everyone has tried to defend."

"Fool. There is nothing to have faith in in this loathsome world."

Princess Serenity chose not to respond to Super Beryl's comment. She instead closed her eyes again and focused all of her energy into her mental plea.

_Please. Please, Silver Crystal. Let me believe in the world everybody believed in._

She kept her eyes closed and thought of each of her friends. She recalled brief verbal exchanges or encounters with each of them that summed up her friendship with them. The subject of each of the memories was not relevant to her current situation but just seeing her friends again if only in her mind, filled her with even more inner strength. The final image that played across her mind was of Sean as he sat on the hill side overlooking the lake. The words he had said to her that fateful day rang loud and clear inside her head.

"The natural beauty that this planet can give us, it helps remind me what we are fighting to preserve." As that last memory faded from her mind she silently asked all of her friends for help. _Everyone…. everyone, lend me your strength … please._ One by one the spirits of the Sailors appeared around her. They each reached out and grasped the handle of the Crescent Moon Wand as they added their power to hers.

In a way that he did not fully understand, Carnage felt Princess Serenity's cry for help. A part of him told him that it had to be through the mental connection to Sailor Jupiter he possessed because of the pure love that they shared. He was more than a little surprised that it had extended to include Sailor Moon as well but now was not the time to wonder about such insignificant things. His dear friend was asking for help and he was going to answer it in whatever way he could.

Carnage jumped up from his position down on the street to the nearest building. He sank the claws on his hands and feet into the brick and mortar of its side and quickly moved upwards until he scaled over the edge and onto the roof. He then leapt from the edge to come to a crouching position on his hands and feet on top of a small structure that covered the stairwell. He turned his body to face the north in a reflexive and futile attempt to try to catch a glimpse of the battle he knew was occurring right now somewhere off in that direction. He closed his large solid white eyes as he mentally called up an image of Usagi and their friends, to assist him in focusing his internal spiritual energy. As he let his body completely relax and fall into a state of dormancy, he ever so slightly felt his strength drift out from his body along the astral plane as it began its long journey to where it was currently needed.

Princess Serenity felt the sudden influx of new energy as well as the auras of all of her friends inside her. When she felt Carnage's energy and presence within her she mentally willed the different sources of energy to come together and form a massive black and pink flashing sphere of incredible power.

"What is this?" Super Beryl exclaimed with a clear tone of fear in her voice as she watched the creation of the gigantic and awesome looking orb.

"Moon Prism Power!" Princess Serenity screamed as the power sphere finished materializing.

The sphere launched forward at Super Beryl who kept her arms out in front of her and tried to blast it with her dark energy in the futile hope of stopping it. The massive orb of energy was not affected at all by her onslaught and hit her head on. The sphere did not detonate on contact but rather passed through her and as the orb passed through her body, she disintegrated instantly, starting with her outstretched arms and continuing to the rest of her body until nothing was left. Once it completed its trek through Super Beryl the sphere continued on along its path and remained in sight for miles until it disappeared over the horizon and its intense shine faded away into the darkness.

With Queen Beryl and Queen Metalia both destroyed the Dark Kingdom was no more. The spirits of the Sailor soldiers quickly disappeared and Carnage's astral projection returned to his body leaving Princess Serenity all by herself once again. The sudden loss of her friends' energy caused her to collapse backwards as her body began to suffer from the effects of extreme physical exhaustion. Her white dress reverting back to Sailor Moon's uniform as she fell down.

"Everyone ... thank you."

With that final whisper her neck became limp and her head fell back against the top of the jagged ice spire. Her eyes slowly closed as the last of her life force drained from her body, the physical toll from using the Silver Crystal being too much for her young body to handle.

The Silver Crystal continued to remain active though and the energy she had unleashed continued to build into a large dome of flashing black and pink lights that was rapidly expanding outwards. It completely encompassed the nearby volcano and everything inside it extending down into Queen Beryl's former throne room. It spread out along the surrounding fields of snow and ice and engulfed the final resting places of the fallen Sailor soldiers starting with Sailor Mars and ending with Sailor Jupiter. It even expanded out into outer space where the entire top of the planet became illuminated by the aura of the pink energy cupola.

As the body of Sailor Moon lay still on the flat surface on top of the ice tower the force of the energy from the Silver Crystal began to cause the spire to rapidly crumble underneath her. At the same time the massive energy output from the crystal caused her to temporarily regain some higher brain functions like a jolt from an electrical current. As her consciousness became somewhat self-aware she silently made one final wish before the crystal's power left her and returned her to the abyss of death.

_I want to wake up in the morning, the white lace curtains swaying in the breeze. My clock chirps that it's 7:00am. _

_'If you sleep any longer, you'll be late,' mama cries out. _

_I nod off thinking, 'Just let me sleep 3 more minutes. _

_ I'm late, just like every other day. My teacher makes me stand in the hall, I fail another test. On the way home from school, I eat crepes with my friends. A party dress decorating a shop window catches my eye. _

_ Even the little things make me happy. It's that ordinary life I want back. I want that back._

With one final flash, the pink energy began to finally dim slowly. The shadows that had been pushed back by the intense light energy slowly crept back into their original places. The black clouds that had dominated the skies for the majority of the night began to break apart and allow the crescent shaped moon to once again shine down on the city of Tokyo and the people of Earth. The stars reappeared and resumed their twinkling as they offered a visual symbol of relief to the people who saw them. The danger that had griped them for the past several hours had finally passed and the world was safe once again. It was a cruel and tragic irony that no one, save for a select few individuals, would ever know the sacrifices made by the true heroes of this night to deliver this gift to them.

End of Chapter 9 …


	11. Epilogue  A Soldier's Wish

Epilogue : A Soldier's Wish

The warmth of the morning sunlight poured in through the partially open window, as a gentle breeze fanned the white linen drapes and lightly caressed the rumpled bed sheets of the single bed underneath it. Those seemed like signs that it was going to be a beautiful morning and more than likely be the start of a perfect day. The peaceful atmosphere of the early morning was disrupted when the alarm clock on the night table next to the bed suddenly started to buzz loudly.

"OH MY GOD!" Usagi screamed as she bolted upright into a sitting position. "I am going to be late! Why didn't anyone wake me up! Where's my lunch? Mom, where's my school bag?", she yelled as she hurried around from her bedroom to the bathroom and finally downstairs to get her school uniform on, brush her teeth and locate her shoes seemingly all at the same time.

"I did call you, three times, and each time you said you would be getting up." Her mother calmly informed her as she continued to read the morning newspaper. She didn't look up at Usagi as she spoke as she had long since gotten used to this usual pattern of events.

"And you believed me?" she said sarcastically as she poked her head around the entrance to the kitchen. She didn't wait around to hear her mother's response as she kept moving. She ran out the door and started to sprint down the street in the direction of her school. She wildly pumped her arms and thrust her body forward as she called upon whatever energy she had inside her body to keep her moving as fast as she could.

She muttered loudly to herself in between her frequent deep gasps of air. "Why can't school start later? My teacher is going to make me stand out in the hall again!" She continued to pump her arms and use the weight of her book bag in her right hand in a failed attempt to gain more speed. She kept her head tilted downward as she tried desperately to avoid stumbling on any potential hazards as that would almost certainly lead to her falling face first onto the sidewalk, which would cost her precious seconds or even minutes while she recovered.

As she ran through the streets, a tall girl with long curly brown hair tied in a ponytail ran passed her. It was clear that she was also late for school as Usagi noticed that she was carrying a book bag that was similar to hers. The girl's uniform was different then hers, white and tan-coloured, and she got a very brief glimpse of a pair of small rose-shaped studs in her earlobes as she ran by her. The tall girl kept running, not looking at Usagi, as Usagi watched her disappear from sight when the street dipped down into a downward slope.

Usagi continued running and quickly decided to take a short cut passed the Hikawa Shrine to make up some lost time. There was a young raven-haired temple maiden sweeping the base of the stairs that led up to the shrine. The temple worker did not look up as Usagi sprinted past her on the other side of the street and kept her focus on the chores that still needed to be done.

As Usagi ran past a bus stop she almost ran head-on into a young girl with a red bow in her long straight blonde hair. She was dressed in a uniform that was similar to Usagi's but different enough that it indicated that she went to the Onarimon Middle School and not the Azabu-Juban Junior High school that Usagi attended.

While this was going on in the streets of Tokyo, high above on a building roof top, three individuals watched the events and smiled. Luna, Artemis and Sean had been watching this same pattern of events for the last two days. The joy of being able to witness such a return to the usual status quo was simply uplifting for all of them. It had been an incredible surprise for them to find Usagi in her bed the morning following the fall of the Dark Kingdom, and the others at their respective homes as well. When they had awoken that first morning they had all acted like nothing had happened and it had reminded Luna of her very first meeting with Usagi about a year ago.

The rest of the city had also seemed to be acting as if nothing had happened either. The bodies of the monsters Carnage had killed and left behind had turned to dust with the deaths of Queens Beryl and Metalia and so left no lasting evidence of their presence or their attack on the city. Sean and the cats hoped that fate had extended to the monsters that had escaped as well. If they had somehow survived and were hiding out somewhere, Sean would have to hunt them down, one by one.

The destruction caused by the monsters had also seemingly been downplayed by the city's officials. The local news reports credited the damage done to the city to the powerful earthquakes that had been plaguing the country for the last several days. The numerous deaths of the citizens caught in the Dark Kingdom's final assault were also being credited to the natural disasters. Surprisingly, there were no interviews or reports from the people that Carnage had saved during the bedlam. He suspected that the authorities were supressing their accounts which was something that he had encountered more than a few times in his travels.

Regardless of the apparent cover-up that their elected officials were committing, people were continuing to walk down the very same streets that had been lined with bodies and blood only days earlier as casually as they normally would. It was both disturbing and a blessing to behold. These people could continue to live in peace without the emotional trauma that such memories would invoke or without knowing the truth about the horrors that had befallen their city. The reality and frequency of earthquakes were something that the Japanese people were used to; hordes of blood-thirsty monsters were not.

Perhaps the most shocking after-effect of their collective victories at the North Pole and Tokyo was that none of the Sailor Soldiers had any memories about the final battle or for that matter, of any of the events over the past year. They did not remember any of the battles against the Dark Kingdom or that they had even been best friends. By all observations; time seemed to have started over again and they were all living as they were one year earlier.

Equally strange was that Luna, Artemis and Sean had seemed to have escaped this unfortunate after-effect and kept their memories of those events intact. Artemis theorized that this was due to them not being caught in the huge surge of pink and black energy that they had seen light up the night sky before everything seemingly returned to normal. The light had appeared in the skies to the north-east and had presumably come from the North Pole where the sailors were battling so it had been a logical assumption to conclude that the two events had been related.

Sean continued to watch Usagi until she too disappeared from sight around a street corner. Luna glanced up at him but didn't say anything at first. He didn't notice her stare and continued to look at the spot where Usagi had disappeared instead. The expression on his face troubled her and her heightened senses were picking up on the inner sadness he was radiating. "I am sure if you stop and talk with them you could become friends again."

He looked down at her and softly smiled before turning back to look at the street corner Usagi had vanished around. The city bus had just arrived and the young blonde girl with the bright red bow was now out of sight as she climbed aboard. Luna did not break her gaze on Sean to watch as she continued to wait for an answer from him. Her overall concern for him began to quickly build.

Sensing her growing anxiousness for a proper response, Sean sat down next to her with his legs hanging over the side of the building. He leaned back and let his fingers grip the inner edge of the ledge for support. He took in a deep breath and paused for a second before speaking, letting his body relax a little first.

"It's a wonderful thought. To be friends with all of them and having Makoto fall in love with me all over again. To have the chance to go on movie dates with her, or go on shopping adventures with the girls. To once again enjoy the simple pleasure of staying in at her place or mine and trying out new healthy recipes or exercising together. It would be much easier, now that the threat of the Dark Kingdom has been dealt with. We could all let loose and truly experience everything that this world has to offer without the burden of defending it. I cannot deny that being friends with those girls has given me so much of what I have been missing for so many years. I would give anything to be able to experience all that again and more."

"So what is stopping you then?" Artemis chimed in as he took a position on the other side of him.

"It is because of my friendship with them and my undying love for Makoto that prevents me from doing what I want more than anything."

"What do you mean?" He inquired with a curious tilt of his white fur-covered head.

Sean glanced up at the clear blue sky and looked at the white cirrus clouds gently floating overhead before answering him. The warm sunshine on his face felt incredible and the smells of the fresh air and the scent of the freshly baked bread from the nearby bakery made this peaceful moment all the more enjoyable. He allowed himself a few more seconds to take in this pleasant scene before answering Artemis' question.

"I have been fighting for the good of this planet for so many years now that I have long since forgotten what it's like to just be an ordinary person doing the things that people do every day-enjoying simple things like going to the mall, sleeping in, playing in a park or watching a movie with friends. I have made peace with my decision to devote my life to preserving those freedoms from threats such as the Dark Kingdom so that the innocent people of Earth can enjoy them without any fear or hesitation."

He paused for another few seconds to let the last point set in with them. When he was ready, he took another deep breath and continued.

"At the end of the day; I am still a soldier, a soldier on the side of the angels but a soldier nonetheless. I am still honour-bound to be ready to face the next threat when it arises and that means that I would have to make sacrifices that other people don't have to. Mako-chan and the other girls were soldiers once but now they have a chance for what every warrior wants."

He paused again as he let himself catch his breath after that long speech. To both Luna and Artemis it appeared like he was going over the words in his head as he was saying them to make sure he said each part correctly, as if for their benefit and understanding. When they each gave him a somewhat confused expression he clarified it for them.

"Every true warrior wishes for one thing and that is to live in peace with whatever is important to them, whether it's buying a small piece of land or returning home to their families and not have to fight anymore. Mako-chan and the others have been given the chance to live an ordinary life that is free of the dangers or hardships of endless battles. I am still a part of that cycle as a protector of Earth but why should I deny any of them this special and incredibly rare opportunity by drawing them back into it because of my selfishness?"

He finished his dialogue and turned his head to look back out over the city. The glassy tint of his eyes indicated that he was not looking at anything in particular and was merely taking in the sight of the city as a whole that he and his former friends had fought so hard to protect. Luna and Artemis looked past Sean at each other but said nothing. They could not deny that they both shared the same hope that he did which was that the girls would lead ordinary lives and never have to be awakened as Sailor Soldiers ever again.

After a short period of silence they too looked out over the city and tried to become content with what was occurring and what it would mean for the future. Both Luna and Artemis could see where this conversation was leading and they both felt a pang of sadness. They all sat in silence for another minute as they let the gravity of the conversation ease a bit more.

"So … where will you go now?" Luna asked with some melancholy in her voice as she looked back up at him.

"I am going to go where I am needed. There will always be another threat to face and a new enemy to defeat. It's the life I was destined to have and I have to fulfill those responsibilities …" He paused and looked down at them to emphasize the last part of his sentence, "…for them!" He quietly finished.

The cats nodded their heads in acknowledgement, knowing who he was referring to. They were deeply moved that even though they were not friends anymore he still valued his former friends enough that he was willing to resume his former nomadic and lonely existence if it would mean that the girls could live in peace. It also seemed more than a little bittersweet to them knowing that the girls may never learn of the sacrifice this exceptional warrior was making for them.

Sean then stood up and dusted himself off. He looked out over the city one final time and took in the sights of the skyscrapers, the rolling green parks, the various sounds of the cars passing along the streets below them and the distant chatter of adults and children going about their daily activities. These were the visuals and sounds that a lot of people pay no attention to but mean everything to warriors like him. Finally, he looked down at the cats and addressed each of them individually.

"Take care, Luna. Take care, Artemis. Watch over the girls and keep them safe."

"We will!" They both said in unison.

He turned his body back towards the city that he had valiantly defended and called home for almost a year. Internally he called forth the red alien skin from its disguise as his civilian clothes and let it knit itself over his body to transform him into the persona of Carnage. He jumped to the nearest roof top and then the next as Luna and Artemis watched him head to the south-west; presumably towards the Ota Ward and Haneda International Airport. They silently thanked him for all of his help and prayed that he too would find peace someday.

In her homeroom class Makoto sat at her desk, lightly tapping the open textbook with the end of her pencil. She had just barely made it to her classroom before the final bell rang and her body was still feeling the effects from that panic and adrenaline-filled sprint. The teacher was at the front of the class and was currently explaining how to solve a specific physics problem. Makoto did not like physics or any form of math for that matter so it was taking everything inside her to keep her eyes from glazing over. To assist in that Herculean task she glanced out the window next to her to halt the growing risk of daydreaming. As she gazed outside she saw a reddish-coloured shadow land on the rooftop of the store across the street. A second later the blurry shape was gone as it disappeared behind a row of elevated air vents. Her eyes immediately opened wide and her facial expression became a look of surprise.

_Did I just see that?_ She wondered to herself.

She stared at the spot where the shadowy shape had just been for a few more seconds. She couldn't help but notice that she had felt a sudden tingle of warmth inside her when she had seen the shape. In the back of her mind she felt a prickly sensation as if something was trying to push its way to the front of her mind. It felt like a lost memory or even the sense of deja vu trying to make its way into her consciousness. She closed her eyes and concentrated on making the memory become clear-if that was indeed what it was-as the strange feeling was starting to really nag at her. After about a minute she gave up on it and simply pushed whatever it was out of her mind as she re-focused her attention on her teacher at the front of the room.

The End!

7


End file.
